You Will Now Be Able to Organize Events Within Whatsapp Groups

You Will Now Be Able to Organize Events Within Whatsapp Groups

WhatsApp is expanding its event creation feature to all groups, not just Communities, making it more like Facebook.

One of WhatsApp's main strengths is its ability to organize group chats. This is useful for various activities like planning birthday parties, organizing group outings, setting up events, communicating with family, or collaborating on projects.

Meta introduced Communities to allow users to create subgroups within a group, which is helpful for managing multiple conversations on specific topics. For example, restaurant staff can create separate chats for chefs, waitstaff, and the entire team. Similarly, a class can have channels for homework help, teacher announcements, and absences.

To make WhatsApp even more user friendly, Meta announced a gradual rollout of the event creation feature within Communities. This feature, previously limited to community group discussions, is now available for regular group chats, as noted by WABetaInfo in the WhatsApp iOS update 24.15.79. The feature should soon be available on Android as well.

© WhatsApp

With this feature, it's easier to organize virtual meetings or parties directly on WhatsApp. Community members can create events that others can respond to, with all event details in the group info. WhatsApp will send reminders before the event, and all information is end-to-end encrypted for privacy.

A few months ago, a feature called "Reply in announcement groups" was added to Communities, allowing admins to receive feedback from members without altering the group's purpose. This feature lets members react to announcements within a thread, similar to messaging services like Slack or Discord, making it easier to follow a conversation. These messages do not trigger notifications, preventing spam in larger communities.

These updates show Meta's intent to make WhatsApp a useful tool for professional settings, competing with services like Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, while also enhancing its social network features. With event creation, WhatsApp is encroaching on Facebook's territory, which has been the go to platform for organizing events. We'll see how these new updates are received.