Meta apps haven’t been having the greatest of times due to declining engagement on their platforms. In what seems like an effort to boost its reach and usage, Facebook introduces Community Chats to its Messenger app.
The feature, which is in testing, will allow users to connect with their communities on both Facebook and Messenger through text, audio and video. Zuckerberg explains, “We’re building Community Chats as a new way to connect with people who share your interests. More than 1 billion people use Messenger to communicate with friends, and soon you’ll be able to start Community Chats from Messenger as well as Facebook Groups”.
What are Community Chats all about?
Community Chats are a great way to connect with communities in real-time on a wide range of topics. The feature aims to bring together Messenger and Facebook Groups to connect whenever, wherever and however they want. The feature will allow the users to organise chats into categories, making it easier to navigate different topics being discussed within a community.
Admins create different types of Community Chats depending on the chat’s purpose and need. Admins will be able to create these chat platforms to help the community connect and interact with each other. Some of the types of chats include:
- A chat on any specific topic
- An event chat: to discuss an outing or meetup
- A view-only broadcast chat: these are for group-wide updates
- An admin-only chat: this chat is for collaboration with admins and moderators
- Audio channels: As the name suggests, audio channels allow group members to share live commentary or get real-time support.
Safety and Control in Community Chats
Community Chats are very public in nature and, therefore, will require an extra level of surveillance to maintain a safe and comfortable space for its users. Meta announced they have “developed a robust suite of tools to help admins easily manage chat and audio experiences. This includes moderation capabilities like blocking, muting or suspending group members, and removing members or messages, as well as Admin Assist, which allows admins to set custom criteria that will automatically suspend users, remove reported messages, and stop messages from ineligible authors or containing violating content from being sent.”
The Community Chats feature will be moderated by admins to protect the interests of its members. According to the blog Meta posted, the community members will be able to report offensive or insensitive messages to the admin or Meta directly. They will be able to leave the chat whenever they want and also block other users if necessary.
Community Chats might increase engagement on the platform as users enjoy having discussions with large groups of people, and what could be better than a well-organised new feature on Facebook.
Stay tuned to all the latest social media features by subscribing to ITP Live’s newsletter below.