Meta’s “streaming channels,” previously available for Instagram and WhatsApp, are coming to Facebook and Messenger “in the coming weeks.” according to a Meta blog post. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also shared the news on a publication from your personal Facebook account.
Streaming channels work a bit like giant but limited group chats. A creator can invite their followers and then send messages like voice notes, polls, text posts, videos, and photos to anyone who joins. Channel members receive notifications every time the creator posts content.
Specifically, these channels will be available for pages on Facebook and are now in testing. Those who manage the official page of a celebrity or company, for example, will be able to start a channel directly from the page. Those who wish to join a streaming channel will be able to do so directly from any specific page.
Streaming channels have proven useful on Instagram, where they have been since February of this year. I myself am a member of a few. While they may have hundreds of members, their chat-like interface (and the fact that they live in your direct messages) makes it seem like a more intimate way to connect with the creators you follow.
On the other hand, I also try to limit the number of streaming channels I join, largely because I want to monitor how many notifications I receive throughout the day, which is why it doesn’t constitute a total. It makes a lot of sense to me that these channels cannot be multiplatform. Many other tools have the option to work on both Facebook and Instagram, such as direct messages. I don’t see a huge benefit in joining an Instagram and Facebook channel for the same creator if it will result in more notifications about the same content.
Still, having streaming channels available for Facebook and Messenger seems like the obvious next step in the feature’s (very fast) journey. The feature has exploded on Instagram after its introduction in the US earlier this year, counting the most popular channels. million members.
