Instagram’s Broadcast Channel tool rolls out in India
Social media company Meta has rolled out Instagram’s broadcast channel worldwide including India. According to a blog post in Meta’s newsroom, the tool will allow creators or users to connect directly with their followers and share all official announcements and updates with them.
The tool was introduced in the US in February this year and was gradually rolled out to other regions. Some channels are already live in India, which were started as an experiment. This includes accounts of Mumbai Indians, ICC and MC Stan. These channels are getting good response. This feature is already available on Telegram and WhatsApp.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained on ‘MetaChannel’ that broadcast channels are a publicly one-to-many messaging tool, in which creators can invite all their followers and share text, video and photos.
Only creators will be able to send messages
According to Meta, creators will also be able to send voice notes to share their latest updates and behind-the-scenes moments. You can even create polls to crowdsource your fans’ feedback.
Only creators will be able to send messages to broadcast channels, while followers will only be able to react to content and vote in polls. However, followers can exit the channel after joining if they wish. In addition, they can also mute the broadcast channel.
How to use broadcast channels?
Meta said in a blog post, ‘After getting access to broadcast channels, creators will be able to send their first message through direct message (DM) of Instagram. This will give followers a channel join notification. Anyone following the creator will be able to search for the broadcast channel and view its content.’
On sending any message or update by the creator, the followers joining the channel will get the notification. Apart from the invitation message, followers will not receive any other information about the broadcast channel until they add the channel to their inbox. Once they join the channel in their inbox it will appear among other message threads and notifications will be turned on.
