Today we’re introducing new features in WhatsApp’s Updates tab, which is home to both Channels and Status. We’ve been talking for years about how to build a business on WhatsApp in a way that doesn’t interrupt personal chats, and we believe the Updates tab is the right place to introduce that.
The Updates tab is where you discover something new on WhatsApp – whether that’s a friend’s status from their wedding day or a creator’s entertaining channel – and it’s now used by 1.5 billion people per day globally. Now the Updates tab is going to be able to help Channel admins, organizations and businesses build and grow.
We’re going to do this in three ways:
- Channel subscriptions: You’ll be able to support your favorite channel, such as your favorite news network, by subscribing to receive exclusive updates for a monthly fee.
- Promoted Channels: We’ll help you discover new channels that might be interesting to you when you’re looking through the directory. For the first time, channel admins have a way to increase their channels’ visibility.
- Ads in Status: You’ll be able to find a new business and easily start a conversation with them about a product or service they’re promoting in Status.
Subscriptions, promotions and ads will appear only on the Updates tab, away from your personal chats. This means if you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones, there will be no change to your experience at all.
Ads Built With Privacy in Mind
Like everything else on WhatsApp, we’ve built these features in the most privacy-oriented way possible. Your personal messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one can see or hear them. That includes Meta.
To show ads in Status or Channels you might care about, we’ll use limited info like your country or city, language, the Channels you’re following and how you interact with the ads you see. For people that have chosen to add WhatsApp to Accounts Center, we’ll also use your ad preferences and info from across your Meta accounts.
We will never sell or share your phone number to advertisers. Your personal messages, calls and groups you are in will not be used to determine the ads you may see.
We’ll be rolling this out slowly over the next several months, though for businesses and Channel admins looking to get started, see more information about how to do so here.