Meta Platforms Inc. META has announced the expansion of Telegram-inspired broadcast channels, after the success on Instagram and WhatsApp, to Facebook and Messenger to provide additional options for content creators to share updates with their audiences.
What Happened: On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the update on Facebook, saying, “Broadcast Channels are coming to Facebook and Messenger in the coming weeks. Pages will be able to share voice notes, text, photos/videos, and GIFs with anyone who joins their channels.”
This move follows Meta’s extension of WhatsApp Channels to users in over 150 countries.
How It Works: For creators managing a Facebook Page in a market where broadcast channels are available, starting a channel directly from the Page is possible. Otherwise, they can join a waitlist to be notified when the feature becomes accessible.
Once a broadcast channel is created, followers receive a one-time notification to join, and while only the channel creator can send messages, members can react and participate in polls.
It is worth mentioning that broadcast channels are subject to Facebook’s and Messenger’s Community Standards. Users can report the channel and specific content within it if they violate these standards.
Broadcast Channels You Can Join: Users can become a part of several broadcast channels on Facebook and Messenger, such as Netflix, Jay Shetty, WWE, The Dodo, League of Legends, and Goldmine Telefilms.
Why It’s Important: While some users may appreciate this expansion, others are less enthusiastic. Comments on Zuckerberg’s Facebook post about the expansion suggest that some miss the uniqueness of each app, and there’s a question of whether the same feature is necessary on all of Meta’s platforms.
Meanwhile, after a chaotic attack on a Gaza hospital, where Israeli and Palestinian officials were blaming each other for an airstrike that resulted in the reported deaths of hundreds of people, the militant group Hamas has turned to Telegram, its primary communication method.
A Hamas-linked channel on Telegram called “Gaza Now,” with 1.4 million subscribers, shared images of children killed or severely injured in the attack. The official Hamas channel called on its supporters to immediately express their anger, saying, “take direct action, show anger. … Do not wait for tomorrow,” reported The Washington Post.
Image source – Shutterstock
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