Artists and their teams have been using WhatsApp to communicate with fans for many years now, but its latest feature could make the app more useful for this.
It’s called ‘Channels‘, and is pitched as a way “to receive important updates from people and organizations”.
That means one-to-many broadcasts for text, photos, videos, stickers and polls, although everything will only last for 30 days. WhatsApp will also create a directory of channels to help people find accounts to follow.
“Hobbies, sports teams, updates from local officials,” were the category examples it gave, but clearly ‘musicians’ would also be a logical option.
WhatsApp also said it will be working on ways for channels to make money from in-app payments, while hinting at a potential advertising model (“the ability to promote certain channels in the directory to help increase awareness”) too.
For now, the new feature will only be available in Colombia and Singapore, ahead of a future rollout globally.
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