Meta announced today that it’s rolling out Instagram’s Channels features for broadcasting messages globally. Until now, the feature was available to select creators and users.
Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement on his channel and recommended a few channels like International Cricket Council (ICC), director Karen X. Cheng, influencer Michael Le, and artists Daniel Arsham.
The company first launched the Channels feature for Instagram in February to let creators share one-to-many messages with their fans. In May, Instagram introduced support for collaborators on Instagram Channels where Zuckerberg had a chat with Adam Mosseri on his channel.
Users can go to the DM section and see the “Suggested channels” section to look for the channels they can join. Instagram says that these suggestions are based on “your interested, interactions with creators, and activity on Instagram.” You can also search for broadcast channels in the DM section.
Meta said that it is testing question prompts for followers along with a dedicated channels tab in the inbox. The company is also testing tools for creators including setting a channel expiration date and time, adding a moderator to help manage members, and sharing a link or preview to Stories.
Notably, Meta also launched the Channels feature on WhatsApp earlier this month. However, the aim of Channels on WhatsApp — first introduced with select partners in Colombia and Singapore — was to give local and global authorities and agencies a platform to connect with people.
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