Last year, on October 12th, Alessandro Paluzzi, a renowned mobile app developer, and leaker, revealed that Instagram was working on the ability to create channels. The main objective behind these Channels would be to provide a platform on which multiple users could discuss certain topics. Initially, these channels were referred to as public groups, but later on, the term “channel” took over.
Channels were not restricted to followers only; instead, anyone could discover one and come aboard with the discussion. Later on, to make them more discoverable, developers offered to let the channel creators feature them on their profiles.
Going forward with this new feature, Instagram divided channels into 2 categories. Social channel, having the ability to host almost 250 users. A broadcast channel that can host over one million users.
Social channels, despite being restricted to 250 users only, gave an advantage to the audience as anyone could join and share their views with others. Whereas a Broadband channel can only be joined by followers or subscribers. Not only this but the ability to send messages is restricted to the creator and channel moderator.
While the feature may appear to be new on this platform, those who are familiar with Telegram and use the application know that Instagram took the idea of such a feature from Telegram. With this new feature, Instagram will be creating competition for Telegram as it moves forward to offer an all-in-one platform to its users. From short videos known as “reels” to its IGTV, uploading stories, and now Instagram channels.
Alessandro Paluzzi has been keeping his followers updated with this update ever since it was announced by Instagram. The latest development was also revealed by him on his Twitter account.
Though the feature is still new, Instagram still has a long way to go with it. It can be expected that the developers will be working to make the Channel feature more user-friendly to retain the maximum number of users. Just like reels is doing a good job for Instagram, the app developers will be aiming to do the same with Channel.
Read next: AI Might Be Even More Biased Than People
Channels were not restricted to followers only; instead, anyone could discover one and come aboard with the discussion. Later on, to make them more discoverable, developers offered to let the channel creators feature them on their profiles.
#Instagram is working on the ability to create a Channel 👀
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) October 11, 2022
ℹ️ Create a discussion channel that others can discover
ℹ️ Discussion channels were previously called public groups https://t.co/4w9TvENeJr pic.twitter.com/xjvA59Qg9Z
Going forward with this new feature, Instagram divided channels into 2 categories. Social channel, having the ability to host almost 250 users. A broadcast channel that can host over one million users.
Social channels, despite being restricted to 250 users only, gave an advantage to the audience as anyone could join and share their views with others. Whereas a Broadband channel can only be joined by followers or subscribers. Not only this but the ability to send messages is restricted to the creator and channel moderator.
While the feature may appear to be new on this platform, those who are familiar with Telegram and use the application know that Instagram took the idea of such a feature from Telegram. With this new feature, Instagram will be creating competition for Telegram as it moves forward to offer an all-in-one platform to its users. From short videos known as “reels” to its IGTV, uploading stories, and now Instagram channels.
Alessandro Paluzzi has been keeping his followers updated with this update ever since it was announced by Instagram. The latest development was also revealed by him on his Twitter account.
Though the feature is still new, Instagram still has a long way to go with it. It can be expected that the developers will be working to make the Channel feature more user-friendly to retain the maximum number of users. Just like reels is doing a good job for Instagram, the app developers will be aiming to do the same with Channel.
Read next: AI Might Be Even More Biased Than People
