WhatsApp Communities is one of the most significant feature
updates to the Meta-owned app in a long time. The new organizational feature
simplifies the management of multiple work-related or casual groups while also
allowing administrators to more efficiently coordinate between members.
WhatsApp Communities, which is now available to all users,
appears as a separate tab on the main WhatsApp screen, replacing the camera
tab, which has been relocated to the top bar, to the left of the search button.
How to create a Community
To start a WhatsApp community, go to the Community tab and
then tap the 'Start your community' button. Enter a name and description for
your community, as well as a profile picture. After that, you'll be in the
Community window.
You can now create new groups or add existing ones here,
with a dedicated button for each. If you are adding existing groups, you must
also be an administrator of those groups. You will see one group by default in
the list of groups below. The Announcement Group is here.
When you're finished, tap the tick mark on the bottom right.
Your Community is now ready. When you add existing or new groups to a
Community, all members of that Community are also added to the Announcement
group.
How to use Communities for Admins
Announcements: As an administrator of a Community, users
will be able to send messages to all of the community's individual groups as
well as the Announcement Group. Any text sent to the announcement group will be
broadcasted to all of the Community's groups, and thus to all members. The same
also goes for media files from your device, documents, and voice notes.
Inviting members: As an administrator, you can also share a
link to the Community to invite others to join. These users can then follow the
link to become members of the Community, but they will not be able to join
individual groups until you or another admin of the Community or group manually
accepts them.
Removing members: Did someone leave their job? You can now
unsubscribe them from groups by simply unsubscribing from the Community. To do
so, navigate to the Community's main page, tap the three-dot menu in the
top-right corner, and select View Members. Then you'll see a list of all
members from all groups in one place. Tap on a contact to remove them from the
Community and all groups that are part of it.
Adding more administrators: As the administrator of the
Community, you can appoint additional administrators to make announcements or
carry out other tasks when you are not present. To do so, go to the main
Community page and select View Members from the three-dot menu. Tap on any
member to reveal the 'Make Admin' option in the options that appear.
Also, all group members of one group will be able to see other groups in the Community, but will only see limited information for groups in which they are not a member.
How to use Communities for other members
All members of a Community have access to the Announcement
Group, where they can view files, media, and text message announcements
intended for all members from central admins.
Joining a group: If a member is a member of a Community but
not a member of any of its groups (as may be the case if you have just been
invited to a new Community), they can browse the Community's various groups and
ask to join the relevant groups. After opening the Community window, users can
request to join one of the groups listed in the Community.
A member who is already a member of a group can always
request to be added to additional groups within the same Community by using the
same method.
Leaving a group or community: As a member of a community,
you can leave as many groups as you want while also joining new ones. To leave
one or more groups within a community, open the group details window and look
for the leave button at the bottom of the page, just like you would in a
regular WhatsApp group.
Leaving groups without leaving the community:
You can also exit the Community in a single step to leave the larger Community
group, the Announcement channel, and all sub-groups. Alternatively, if you only
want to leave a group but remain a member of the Community and its Announcement
channel, you can do so by leaving each group separately but not the Community.
You will not be in any groups this way, but you will still be a member of the
Community and have access to the Announcement channel.
