Meta starts testing Discord-like Community Chats in Messenger, Facebook Groups
What's the story
Messenger and Facebook Groups will soon get Discord-like 'Community Chats,' announced Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
The feature will allow users to organize large Messenger and Group chats into categories and engage in real-time discussions. The company has already begun testing it in Messenger.
Groups will get the feature in the coming weeks. Users will be able to have chats in multiple formats.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The popularity of real-time group conversations has increased since Discord. Community Chats is Meta's answer to it.
They will help people keep a track of fast-moving conversations. Meta will be hoping to attract Discord users with this feature.
The company has been adding features to Messenger that remind one of Slack or Discord, including the '@everyone' and '/silent' shortcuts.
Community Chat
Admins can create chats for specific topics and events
Community Chats are designed to let people have real-time conversations in various formats, including text, audio, and video.
Admins will have the option to create a chat for group members on a specific topic, an event chat, a view-only broadcast chat for group-wide updates, and even an admin-only chat.
There can also be audio-only chats with the option to turn on video later.
Moderation
There will be 'Admin Assist' for automated moderation
Community Chats can only be accessed by members of a group. Given their inherent nature of spanning beyond real-life friend groups, Meta has developed moderation tools to keep things in check.
Admins will be able to block, mute, suspend group members, and remove members or messages. There will be an 'Admin Assist' feature to set up custom criteria to automate moderation.
How-to
Admins can invite participants or members can join themselves
Community Chats can be started from a group or from Messenger itself. Click 'Create a chat' in the group menu or 'Create a community' within Messenger.
Once you do that, you'll be asked to decide on a chat topic. Now, it's time to add members. Admins can either invite participants or members can join the chat themselves.
After that, you can begin the chat.
Official words
New way to connect with people who share interests: Zuckerberg
"We are building Community Chats as a new way to connect with people who share your interests," wrote Zuckerberg while describing the intention behind Community Chats.
"More than 1 billion people use Messenger to communicate with friends, and soon you will be able to start Community Chats from Messenger as well as Facebook Groups," the top boss added.