About WhatsApp Community [A Guide]
WhatsApp – the worlds leading instant messaging app – recently rolled out a new feature called Communities. It allows users to connect related groups under one announcement group.
WhatsApp initially increased the number of participants in a group from 255 to 1,024 to accommodate more participants, but, sometimes, not everyone should be in the same group even if they may share a similar interest.
For example, a School might need to have different groups for Teachers, Students, and Parents, but the Admin may also once in a while need to send an update across all groups. With the new WhatsApp Community feature, they will be able to do it at once.
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Table of Contents
What are Communities in WhatsApp?
WhatsApp Communities is a new feature on WhatsApp that enables users – business owners, creators, or “community managers” – to easily communicate with their customers, fans, or members across several WhatsApp Groups at once. (While community members can remain (chatting) in groups that matter to them).
WhatsApp Community helps
- Organise related WhatsApp groups
- Keep the chats focused
- Reach everyone at once
Key WhatsApp Community Features?
The main features of the WhatsApp community include the ability to
- connect up to 50 groups,
- see who has read your broadcast
- easily switch between groups (within the community),
- see (emoji) reactions from community members,
- share large files (up to 2GB),
- delete sent messages for everyone in the Community,
- get up to 32 persons on a video call,
- enable disappearing messages
The office WhatsApp blog claim you can also create Polls for members to vote, but (at the moment) this seems to only work on WhatsApp Groups.
(To create Polls, Simply click on the Plus “+” sign at the bottom left of your message bar. Click on “More”. Click “Poll”. Type your question and the options, then hit “Send”.)
How Much Control Do You Have Over The Community
WhatsApp Community gives you a lot of Privacy and control over the community.
Only the Admins of the Community can see Members. And, the Admin can
- rename the community,
- manage the WhatsApp groups within the community,
- invite, add or remove specific people to the community (using link or QR code),
- add more groups to the community,
- make a member an admin,
- exit, report, or deactivate the community.
Is WhatsApp Community Available for Every Device?
Whatsapp Communities was limited to a few companies in April but is now available to everyone on Android and iOS devices.
However, as of the time of this writing, those using the WhatsApp Business App can not create communities. But it is possible to add a Whatsapp Business number as an Admin after creating one.
What is the difference between a WhatsApp group and community?
The WhatsApp Community is very similar to the WhatsApp Group, however, they have a few key differences
- Number of Members:
WhatsApp Groups can only have up to 1,024 participants, while WhatsApp Communities can merge up to 50 Groups and have up to 5,000 members.
- Participation:
In WhatsApp Groups everyone can send messages. While on WhatsApp communities, only the Admin can send messages to keep everyone in the loop
- Privacy:
In WhatsApp Groups everyone can other members of the Group. While on WhatsApp communities, only the Admin can see Members.
How to create a WhatsApp community?
To Create a WhatsApp Community on Android
- Click on the “New Community” tab,
- Click on “Get Started”,
- Select an image for your community,
- Type the community name,
- Type the description of the community,
- Click on “Create a new group” or Add an existing group.
To Create a WhatsApp Community on iOS
- Click on the Community Tab
- Click on Start a Community
- Select an image for your community,
- Type the community name,
- Type the description of the community,
- Click on “Create a new group” or Add an existing group.
How do I join a Group in a WhatsApp community?
Suppose you joined or got added to a WhatsApp Community. In that case, you can discover and join other groups by
- Clicking on the Community Subject/info (at the top – where the icon and group name appear),
- Scrolling down to see the groups.
- Tap the group you want to join.
- You will then be prompted to send a request to the Admin to add you to the group.
Note: A message which reads, “Can you please add me to the group?” will be automatically generated for you, and you can then decide to send it to the Admin. The Admin will be able to see the particular group you are referring to on the message.
How to Delete/Deactivate a WhatsApp Community?
Note. you must be the creator of WhatsApp Communications to be able to deactivate it. You must also have an internet connection to do this:
- Click on the WhatsApp Community tab.
- Click on the WhatsApp Community you want to delete.
- Click on the WhatsApp Community subject (at the top – where the icon and group name appear)
- Scroll all the way down till you find “Deactivate Community”
- A warning prompt will appear, informing you that all groups will be disconnected, the announcements group closed, and community information deleted. If you are sure you want to deactivate the community, proceed to hit “Deactivate”.
- A final prompt will appear. Hit “Deactivate” again, and the Community will be deactivated.
Conclusion: What Can You Do With WhatsApp Community
WhatsApp Community is a great way to keep in touch with your community in the app they love. This could mean different things to different people.
- A business can focus solely on creating the best educational content and sharing it on its WhatsApp Community. This can almost serve as a replacement for email marketing since the reach is larger, open rates are sky-high,
- Creators can easily capture and share moments with their fans,
- Emergency warnings can be sent and received instantaneously,
- Updates for payments, venues, or availability of products and services can be communicated quickly and effectively,
- And so on.
All these could mean more money for you, or more room to grow on WhatsApp.
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