Instagram To Introduce New Channels Feature For Sharing Content Directly With Followers Meta is starting a new feature for Instagram called broadcasts channels that let users send texts or photo updates directly to followers.
By Kavya Pillai
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The photo-sharing social media platform, Instagram is known to experiment with its layout, tools and features. The app's parent company Meta is starting a new feature for Instagram called broadcasts channels that let users send texts or photo updates directly to followers. Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta Chief Executive, on Thursday announced this news on his Instagram account by creating his own channel. The new feature is intended to offer an alternative way of sharing posts without having to share them on mainstream cluttered feeds.
Zuckerberg wrote, "I'm starting this channel to share news and updates on all products and tech we're building at Meta. "This will be the place where I share Meta product news first," he added. Meta is introducing this feature as a tool for creators to reach their audience directly with updates. The company since its competitor TikTok went viral has been fierce in retaining its users by introducing its own version of video formats called reels and changing its algorithm to show users content of their interest. This change has received some hate from users as they have complained about not seeing content from the accounts they actually follow.
The new feature, channels, will tackle this problem by allowing creators to reach their followers directly without having to rely solely on the algorithm of Instagram's feed.
The social media app, Instagram has by far been one of Meta's most important services in recent years. Apart from being the best bet against TikTok, the app is also a major source of revenue and is responsible for Meta's growth in the business. The company values the app as its broader focus is on building the Metaverse, which has been an expensive plan.
The launch of Channels comes at an important time for the company's overall business as Zuckerberg coined the year 2023 as the "year of efficiency". He has also pledged to cut some middle managers and prioritize the effort of products to help the company grow rapidly.
Prior to this, Meta shut the live shopping feature to "focus on products and features that provide the most value." He also said that the channels feature will eventually be added to the company's messenger service, Facebook.
