Meta is rolling out one of WhatsApp's features to its Messenger. The ‘Communities’ feature, which was introduced on WhatsApp in 2022, is aimed to help organisations, schools, and other private groups communicate in a more organised and structured way. It will allow users to connect with others without needing an associated Facebook Group to do so.
In 2022, Meta introduced Community Chats on Messenger to help people in Facebook Groups connect in real time. With this new feature, the company is now allowing users to create dedicated spaces for real-time communication on Messenger, even without being connected to a Facebook Group.
How will it work?
The feature works similarly to Communities on WhatsApp, but Meta states that there is a key difference. Messenger Communities are connected to Facebook's social graph. While WhatsApp requires you to have someone's phone number to invite them to a Community, Community builders on Messenger can grow their communities by inviting Facebook friends and friends of friends.
Communities bring together multiple group chats into one place, and each Community has a dedicated “Home” space for admins to share updates and announcements. Up to 5,000 people can join a community through shareable invites, according to Meta.
This feature can be used to create a dedicated space for organisations, schools, PTAs, and neighbourhoods. It can also be used to create a dedicated space for connecting with friends who share similar interests.
For example, a neighbourhood can create a Community to keep everyone connected and updated on different topics. They could create specific group chats for various subjects like upcoming events, security alerts, trash pickup schedules, and more. Similarly, a school could create a Community and have specific group chats for each grade, allowing parents to join conversations that concern their children.
Meanwhile, Meta has taken specific action against inappropriate content in India. In April 2024, a compliance report revealed that Meta removed millions of posts for violating community standards. According to the report, the company deleted approximately 11.6 million posts from Facebook and 5.4 million from Instagram.
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