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Meta announced today that it is expanding the Instagram broadcast channels feature to all users globally. The social network began rolling out the feature that allows creators to send photos and videos directly to their followers in February. But now, it should become available to all users.
Content creators will be able to use broadcast channels as a general multi-messaging tool where they can invite all their followers and share text, photo and video updates. They can also share voice notes and create polls to get feedback from fans. Of course, only creators will be able to submit content in channels and followers will be restricted to interacting with content and voting in polls.
Broadcast channels and how they will work
If a creator gains access to broadcast channels, their followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel after the creator sends their first message. They can send this message from their Instagram inbox. Any user can discover broadcast channels and see the content within them but only followers who join the channel will get notifications when there are updates.
Followers will have the option to leave or mute any broadcast channel they’ve joined whenever they want. They can also control their notifications from creators by going to the creator’s profile, clicking the bell icon, and selecting “Broadcast Channel”.
By default, notifications will be set to “some” but users can change this to “all” or “none”. Followers will only get the invite notification from the channel unless they have subscribed to it. If they add a channel to their inbox, it will appear with other threads and notifications will be turned on. At this point it will work like any other chat except most users won’t be able to reply.
How to join a broadcast channel
You can access the link to the creator’s broadcast channel through a link on their story poster, or another pinned link on their Instagram. Or you can join through the one-time notification mentioned above, which is sent to your existing followers. After clicking on any of them, click on Join Broadcast Channel.
New broadcast channel feature
Aside from expanding the broadcast channel feature globally, Instagram also announced a “Collaborator” feature where creators can invite other creators, or even fans, to participate in their broadcast channels. Think of it like inviting a special guest to a podcast. This feature is now also available globally.
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