WhatsApp makes it easier to organise events in Communities

WhatsApp introduced Communities feature in November 2022, in order to cater to larger discussion groups

WhatsApp on May 1 said it is introducing a new way for people to create events within the app and also reply to admin announcements, as the Meta-owned messaging app looks to bolster its group messaging offering.

The company said the events feature will enable people to plan get togethers directly in WhatsApp, whether it is for a virtual meeting or a birthday dinner.

Users can create events in groups that others can respond to, so that the entire group knows who is coming, it said.

These events will be visible in the group's information page. People going for the event will also get a notification when the event is getting close, WhatsApp said.

Events feature will first roll out to groups that belong to WhatsApp's Community feature and then roll out to all groups in the coming months (Image source: WhatsApp)

The events feature will first roll out to groups that belong to WhatsApp's Communities feature and then roll out to all groups in the coming months, the company said.

The world's largest messaging app said it is also enabling users to respond to announcements from admins in WhatsApp Communities. These replies will be grouped together and minimised so that people can see what others have said in context.

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Notifications for these replies will be muted for all users, WhatsApp said, in an effort to possibly reduce notification overload.

WhatsApp introduced Communities feature in November 2022, in an effort to cater to larger discussion groups. Communities such as neighbourhoods, workplaces, school associations, non-profit organisations, and clubs can connect multiple groups together under one umbrella to organise group conversations on the messaging app.

"Over the next few months, we’ll keep rolling out new features to Communities and groups so people have more tools to keep their lives organized on WhatsApp" the company said in a blogpost.

Last month, WhatsApp also introduced chat filters to help people find important messages faster, without having to scroll through their entire inbox.

At present, users will be able to choose between three filters that will appear at the top of their chat list, namely, 'All', 'Unread', and 'Groups'. WhatsApp said it plans to add more such filters in the future.

These filters are expected to come in handy to users as they increasingly use the messaging app for all purposes in their daily lives, right from work communication to social and family interactions, thereby leading to a potential overload of messages.