How to Use WhatsApp Channels: WhatsApp recently went global with its latest ‘Channels’ feature. Taking a page from Telegram’s playbook, Channels will allow individuals and organizations to reliably update their followers and reach a larger audience within WhatsApp.
Here’s everything you need to know about WhatsApp Channels, including what it is, how to discover and follow popular channels, and how to create your own.
What do WhatsApp Channels entail?
Unlike Twitter (X), Instagram, Facebook, etc., where public profiles or channels permit anyone to reply and comment, WhatsApp Channel is a one-way broadcasting tool where followers can only react to a channel’s updates or vote in polls but cannot communicate with them.
Celebrities, artists, sports teams, and significant organizations and brands have embraced the WhatsApp Channel feature since its initial, low-key introduction in June, and many of them are actively collaborating with WhatsApp to increase its popularity. Though by no means a novel feature (implemented first on Telegram), WhatsApp Channels is gathering traction thanks to a global release and a robust privacy setup that protects the personal information of both channel administrators and followers.
As this is a new feature, you will need to update WhatsApp to the most recent version before using it. Once updated, a new ‘Updates’ tab containing a new ‘Channels’ option should appear.
How to use WhatsApp Channel to monitor an individual
First, let’s examine how you can follow the channels of the people and brands that matter to you, respond to their broadcasts, and control how you are notified of their updates.
1. Identify and follow the WhatsApp channel
Switch to the ‘Updates’ tab in WhatsApp.
In the ‘Channels’ section, you will find a selection of regionally popular channels. To locate additional channels, tap the green locate channels button.
Alternatively, you can touch the plus (+) sign.
Choose Find channels.
In the subsequent section, you can browse channels by a variety of categories, including ‘Most Active,’ ‘Popular,’ and ‘New,’ as well as by country.
Alternatively, if you have a channel in mind that you wish to follow, you can use the search option in the upper-right corner to locate it.
You can select a channel to see what kinds of updates to anticipate from it.
Here you will find the updates that the channel administrator has broadcast.To subscribe to a channel, select the Follow button in the upper-right corner.
To obtain more information about a channel, select its name in the navigation bar.
You can forward the channel to one of your conversations from this section.
Alternatively, share the link on other platforms.
You can also subscribe to a channel by selecting the Plus symbol +
Once followed, the latest updates from this channel will display in the ‘Updates’ tab’s ‘Channels’ section.
2. Respond to channel changes
Channel updates can include text, images, videos, stickers, and polling, among other media types. You can respond to an update in the same manner as any other WhatsApp message, by long-pressing the update and selecting your response.
To modify your response, simply repeat the previous step and select a new response.
Tap the reactions at the bottom of the update to delete your response.
This section displays the quantity of responses to the update. Your own response will appear at the top. Tap it to remove it.
Even if you choose to unfollow the channel in the future, your responses to the updates will remain.
3. Manage WhatsApp channel notifications
By default, all channel update notifications are muted. Unless you access WhatsApp, you won’t know if a channel has broadcasted an update. This is indicated by the notification icon with a diagonal slice through it.
Tap this icon to enable notifications for your preferred channels.
Alternatively, you can select the channel’s name in the navigation bar.
And disable “Mute notifications.”
You will now receive a notification on your device whenever the channel administrators broadcast a new message.
4. Share with others the updates of the channels you follow
If you wish to share specific channel updates with others, you can do so in the same way you would share any other message on WhatsApp.
Long-press the update and touch the ‘Forward’ icon located in the upper right corner.
Select the contacts you wish to share it with, then select the Send icon at the bottom.
Additionally, you can copy the entire update to the clipboard by selecting the ‘Copy’ icon.
Once it has been transferred to the clipboard, you can paste it into any app.
5. Unsubscribe from a WhatsApp channel
Simply access a WhatsApp channel from the ‘Channels’ section whenever you wish to unfollow it.
Then, touch the icon with three dots in the upper right corner.
Select ‘Unfollow’.
Tap ‘Unfollow’ again to confirm.
Alternatively, select the channel’s name at the top
.
Select the red ‘Unfollow’ option at the bottom of the page.
To affirm, click ‘Unfollow’.
WhatsApp Channels: Here’s Everything You Should Know!
How to create a WhatsApp Channel and distribute notifications
Although WhatsApp has stated in its blogs that anyone can establish a WhatsApp channel, this is currently not the case.
WhatsApp has restricted the creation of channels to a select group of individuals and businesses, but this is expected to alter soon. However, whenever this option becomes available, the steps to create a channel will be identical to those outlined below.
- Establish a WhatsApp Channel.
- Launch WhatsApp and select the Updates tab.
- Tap the plus sign beside ‘Channels’.
- Select Create channel (not available at this time).
- Select Continue.
- Choose a moniker for your channel (100 characters maximum).
- Add a channel description and compose a few words to give future subscribers a sense of the channel’s focus.
- Choose an image to represent your Channel.
- Lastly, select Create channel.
On the channel info page, you can modify your channel’s name, icon, description, and reaction preferences at a later time.
If you wish to discontinue your channel, you will also find the option to deactivate it on the same page. When a channel is deleted, followers will still be able to locate and view its prior updates. Nevertheless, nobody else will be able to locate the channel.
How to distribute and manage updates to your WhatsApp channel
To post an update, navigate to your channel from the ‘Channels’ page and compose one. Written updates may contain emoticons, links, and formatting options such as bold, underline, and strikethrough. You can also upload images and videos from your device’s camera or gallery, complete with captions.
It is crucial to keep in mind that any included media files are completely public and that followers can download them when sharing updates. Non-followers will be able to view updates from the previous 30 days, while followers will be able to view updates from the commencement of your channel.
WhatsApp also permits the editing of text bulletins for up to 30 days after their creation. Long-press the update you wish to modify, then tap the three-dot icon and select ‘modify’. There will be a ‘Edited’ mark next to all edited updates. However, none of your followers will be notified whenever you modify a status update.
The only disadvantage is that media-containing updates cannot be edited. Thus, there are no photo or video editing updates. The only way to rectify any errors in such Channel updates is to completely expunge them. Long-press on the update, and then click ‘Delete’.
