On November 3 Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, announced new features on WhatsApp. The features are meant to improve the quality of group interactions within the platform.

Image: Pixabay/AP

“Today we’re launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more. We’re also rolling out polls and 32-person video calling too. All secured by end-to-end encryption, so your messages stay private,” Zuckerberg said.

Communities

Admins will have the tools to organize conversations under one umbrella. Not only does this feature enable the creation of subgroups, but it also helps organize chats in the group according to the things the users love and are involved in.

The icon is placed along the chats, status and calls tab.

32 person calls

Additionally, users can now make calls with up to 31 people simultaneously. Instead of the 8-person limit that has been there. This feature works for both voice calls and video calls.

In-chat polls

This creates an opportunity for people to interact more. In this case, group members can make and participate in polls.

“With Communities, we’re aiming to raise the bar for how organizations communicate with a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else. The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages – and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption,” WhatsApp said in a statement.