Mark Zuckerberg has been busy introducing new broadcast channels to Instagram, which are public one-to-many messaging tools that allow creators to invite all of their followers.
Zuckerberg used his own ‘Meta Channel’ to announce the testing phase of the new broadcast channel feature, which enables creators to share text, video, and photo updates. Creators can also add voice notes and polls for their followers to partake in.
Instagram Broadcast Channels for Creators
Creators with access to broadcast channels will send an initial message from their Instagram inbox to announce a channel, with their followers receiving a one-time notification to join.
Broadcast channels will also be discoverable and viewable by anyone, but only followers who join the channel will receive notifications whenever there are updates.
Broadcast Channel Notifications
Announcing the new broadcast channels feature on the About FB website, Meta explained: “Followers can leave or mute broadcast channels at any time and can also control their notifications from creators by going to a creator’s profile, tapping the bell icon and selecting ‘broadcast channel’. Notifications will default to ‘some’, but this setting can be changed to ‘all’ or ‘none’.
“Other than the invitation notification, followers will not get any other notifications about a broadcast channel unless they add the channel to their inbox. Once a channel is added to their inbox, it will appear among other message threads, and notifications will be turned on and function like any other chat.
“As soon as the broadcast channel is live, creators can also encourage their followers to join by using the ‘join channel’ sticker in Stories or by pinning the channel link to their profile (coming soon).”
Broadcast Channel Testers
The amount of broadcast channel testers is quite limited at the moment, but among the testers are content creators Austin Sprinz, Valkyrae, FaZe Rug, and Katie Feeney. There are also a number of well-known sports stars taking part in the testing phase, including two-time Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Chloe Kim, and martial artists Gilbert Burns and Mackenzie Dern.
Image: Depositphotos
This article, “Instagram Broadcast Channels Built for Creators” was first published on Small Business Trends