Meta has announced significant changes to WhatsApp’s Updates tab, introducing three new features designed to help creators, organizations, and businesses grow their presence and monetize content. In a statement released on Monday, Meta revealed that the Updates tab, which hosts both Status and Channels, will now support Channel Subscriptions for exclusive updates, Promoted Channels for greater discoverability, and Ads in Status for enhanced business visibility.
These additions mark a notable shift in WhatsApp’s business model and represent Meta’s most ambitious effort to monetize the platform to date. “We’ve been talking for years about how to build a business on WhatsApp in a way that doesn’t interrupt personal chats. We believe the Updates tab is the right place to introduce that,” Meta said.
With over 1.5 billion people using the Updates tab daily to view friends’ Status updates or follow creators and public figures via Channels, Meta sees a clear opportunity to integrate business-friendly tools. The new Channel Subscriptions feature allows users to subscribe to their favorite channels—such as news outlets, creators, or sports teams—to access exclusive content for a monthly fee.
With Promoted Channels, WhatsApp will begin suggesting new Channels to users based on their interests, giving creators and businesses a paid tool to increase visibility. For Ads in Status, businesses will be able to place targeted advertisements within the Status feature, similar to Instagram Stories. This will allow users to discover new products or services and chat directly with advertisers.
Meta emphasized that these features are built with WhatsApp’s commitment to privacy in mind. “Your personal messages, calls, and groups remain end-to-end encrypted, and that includes your Status updates. We’ll never sell or share your phone number with advertisers,” Meta assured.
Source: https://nairametrics.com/
