Meta has launched a new broadcast chat feature on Instagram. Last Thursday, Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg announced on his personal Meta Channel, “Hey everyone, we’re starting to roll out Instagram Channels… a new broadcast chat feature.”
[Instagram] Channels is a one-to-many messaging tool that allows creators engage directly with their followers at scale. The new chat feature supports text, photo, video, polls and even voice notes.
How does it work?
- A creator gets access to broadcast channels and sends the first message from their Instagram box.
- Followers receive a one -time notification to join the channel.
- Anyone can discover the broadcast channel and view the content but only followers who have joined the channel will receive notifications of updates.
- Once a broadcast channel is live, creators can encourage their followers to join by using the “Join Channel” sticker in stories.
Instagram broadcast channels enable a creator to crowdsource fan feedback on content shared with the “polls” feature.
A creator sends a message or shares a photo or video, followers react to the content and vote in polls.
Meta promised users will experience more features of the broadcast channels in months, like the ability to bring another creator into the channel for discussions, crowdsource questions for “Ask me anything” and more.
Instagram Broadcast channels are subject to Instagram’s Community Guidelines, so users can feel safe. The company has also warned that a channel can be reported as well and specific content shared in the channel can be removed if it violates Community Guidelines.
The new feature is presently being tested with some United States creators as Zuckerberg mentioned on his Meta Channel on Thursday, “We’re launching channels with a handful of great folks today: all-time skiing champion @mikeelashiffrin, meme master @tank.sinatra and AI + AR creator @karenxcheng.”
While the feature is expected to be rolled out in more regions and to more creators soon, interested creators can sign up to be considered for early access by joining “the waitlist” on their Instagram mobile app, though Meta says, “Spots are limited and we will be providing early access on a rolling basis.”
According to Meta, the broadcast channels feature will be tested in Messenger and on Facebook in coming months.
