WhatsApp Introduces New Broadcast Feature For Group Chat

WhatsApp recently unveiled a new feature that Telegram users will have no trouble recognizing.

WhatsApp users will now be able to create a one-way broadcast communication stream. With this new feature, only the administrator or owner will be able to send messages to members of the group.

In a blog post uploaded last Friday, the Facebook-owned company explained that the broadcast feature was rolled out to enable admins to streamline group communications. It also emphasized that people often use groups “to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations.”

To use WhatsApp's new feature, users will have to open Group Info then tap on Group Settings. They should then select Send Messages and then choose the Only Admins option.

The platform already allows group admins to send messages to a select set of users. However, this is the first time that one person is given the power to control the entire communication stream. The new feature would also make sure that there won't be any circuitous conversation.

WhatsApp has been quite busy the last few months as it released several new group features. Some of these features include group descriptions, a “catch up” feature for members that have been away for a short while and another that safeguards people from being repeatedly added to groups that they have already left.

WhatsApp's new broadcast feature is strikingly similar to another popular messaging app, Telegram. But basically copying a feature from another platform is nothing new as far as Facebook is concerned. After all, the social media giant has done something similar to Instagram, a platform it also owns. The photo-sharing site has patterned several of its features from Snapchat and has successfully used it to overtake its competitor in terms of active users.