WhatsApp to launch Communities feature to organise group chats

WhatsApp is rolling out a new Communities feature in the next few weeks for its users, it announced last Thursday (Apr 14).  

The feature was added to ease online communication within organisations that use WhatsApp as a common platform. The Meta-owned messaging app is arguably the most popular chatting application among Singaporeans, with about 87.1 per cent of the Singapore population using the app, according to a Statista poll in 2020. 

The new feature will allow users to organise different group chats under an organisation. For example, a restaurant can organise a community, with separate group chats among chefs and front of house staff housed under the community. 

Community admins will be able to share messages with everyone and control what groups can be included. 

“Organisations like schools, local clubs, and non-profit organisations now rely on WhatsApp to communicate securely and get things done — especially since the pandemic forced us all to find creative ways to work together while apart,” said WhatsApp in its announcement. 

“Given lots of feedback we’ve received, we think there’s more we can do to make it easier to help people manage these busy conversations among these kinds of groups.”

Special additions have also been made to WhatsApp in general. 

Users can now send Emoji reactions on certain messages to avoid flooding chats. Files up to 2gb can be shared on the app and large voice calls with up to 32 people in a group chat can be conducted by just one tap. 

Admins are also able to remove other messages from everyone’s chat. 

Members of a group can now silently leave a group without notifying everyone whenever they feel that the group chat no longer applies to them.