Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced two new updates for WhatsApp groups that will provide more control to group admins and make it easier to discover what groups you have in common with someone by searching their name.
These features were announced by Zuckerberg on his Instagram Broadcast channel, which is aimed to improve the group and communities’ experience on WhatsApp.
“Last year, we rolled out Communities to help people get the most out of their groups on WhatsApp. Since launching, we’ve wanted to build even more tools for admins and users alike. Today we’re excited to roll out a few new changes we’ve made to make groups more manageable for admins and easier to navigate for everyone,” the company said in a blog post.
Let’s take a look at the two new updates to WhatsApp groups:
New Controls For Admins
With more and more people joining Communities, WhatsApp is giving group admins more control over their group privacy. In other words, the new tool gives group admins the ability to decide who can join a group or not.
When an admin chooses to share their group’s invite link or make their group joinable in a community, they now have more control over who can join the group and who cannot.
“Groups are where people have some of their most intimate conversations and it’s important that admins are able to easily decide who can and cannot come in,” WhatsApp added.
With this new feature, admins will be able to view a list of people who wish to join the community. They can either click on approve or reject button to allow or disallow a user from joining the group respectively.
Easily See Groups In Common
The second feature now makes it easier for you to search a contact’s name to see what groups you have in common with someone else. This feature comes in handy when you are part of larger groups and Communities, making it easier to navigate and stay connected with others.
According to Meta, this feature will help you remember the name of a group you know you share with someone or you want to see the groups you are both in. You just need to search for a contact’s name to see their groups in common.
Meta says the company will continue to build new tools to make groups the best experience for admins and members alike. The new features are expected to start rolling out globally over the coming weeks.
