Yahoo Finance Meta unveils Channels broadcast tool on WhatsApp
Meta rolls out WhatsApp's new broadcast feature titled "Channels". Yahoo Finance tech editor Dan Howley breaks down what the feature does and the new business opportunities it could present for Meta.
Video transcript
AKIKO FUJITA: Well, Facebook parent company Meta is rolling out a broadcast-based messaging feature to be used on its WhatsApp. It's called Channels, and it's set to be updated into the app starting in Singapore and Colombia. Here to break down the new feature is Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley. You know, Dan, we don't talk a lot about changes within WhatsApp too much.
DAN HOWLEY: Nope.
AKIKO FUJITA: How would this exactly work?
DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, so this is called WhatsApp Channels, and essentially, what it's going to be used is kind of a way to broadcast to groups that want to follow certain entities. So whether that's Yahoo Finance can have one, your local city could have one. It's basically kind of a one direction kind of way of a organization or a group communicating with others.
So we actually have a statement from Mark Zuckerberg about it. He says today we're announcing WhatsApp Channels, a private way to follow people and organizations that matter to you right within WhatsApp. I just wanted to throw that out there. He said, we're starting in Singapore and Colombia, but we'll roll out to everyone later this year. He said it's the most private way to communicate.
The thing here is, it's not going to be end-to-end encrypted. So that's a major thing that makes WhatsApp worthwhile. Nobody can see what you're sending, whether it's Meta or outside parties. And so they say maybe they'll start to introduce that at some point. I think the big takeaway here, though, is that they're trying to get more utility out of WhatsApp beyond just chat. You're going to have, obviously, text chat, but you also have video, audio, things along those lines.
And it will be a way for them to say, look, WhatsApp is a place where you can go and build kind of a community that people can follow. Now, it's not really too clear on whether or not you'll be able to talk back and forth with whatever entity you're following. I don't think you would because then that would just be a complete mess.
AKIKO FUJITA: But how much of this is about the utility you pointed to? How much of it is about Facebook, Meta, trying to figure out if there's a way to monetize an app that has not sold ads--
DAN HOWLEY: Right.
AKIKO FUJITA: --despite pressure?
DAN HOWLEY: They spent-- I forget-- more than a billion dollars on WhatsApp, and they haven't been able to make anything of it. The whole idea originally was, OK, how do we monetize this app? Encrypted chat was a thing. WhatsApp was growing in popularity. They had Facebook Messenger. And they were like, well, we'll just scoop you up, too, and this way, we'll be able to-- we don't have to deal with that rivalry. And so now they have it, now the idea is, well, how the hell do we make money off of it? And they haven't figured that out.
This is perhaps one of the ways they do it. Maybe they start introducing from here commerce aspects where you can go in there, and there's a store, and you say, OK, well, this is what Nike is saying, and maybe I can pick up some new shoes or whatever have you. But it really is kind of part of their process of finding out what they can do with WhatsApp more than just having individual group chats.
AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, finding other sources of revenue, potentially, down the line. Dan Howley, as always, thanks so much for that.
