Three Features Mark Zuckerberg Announced For Whatsapp In India According to Zuckerberg, Meta runs the world's most popular messaging platforms from WhatsApp to Messenger to Instagram, DMS
By Teena Jose
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Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said India is leading the world on how people and businesses have embraced messaging as a better way to get things done. During a virtual address at the Conversations event in Mumbai, the social media major unveiled a slew of new tools aimed at supercharging businesses using WhatsApp.
"At Meta, we run the world's most popular messaging platforms from WhatsApp to Messenger to Instagram, DMS. Billions of people and millions of businesses use these services every day to connect. We approach our messaging products the same way that we always build at Meta, by looking out for trends and how people are using our apps. Then giving more tools to push the boundaries of what's possible. Now, this is how we've continued to innovate with our messaging formats, our group chats and broadcast channels. Today, I'm excited to announce some new features that I think will be game changing for businesses and really useful for people," shared Zuckerberg in his speech.
Whatsapp Flows
One of the key features coming to Whatsapp business is 'Whatsapp Flows', a feature that will give businesses the ability to create customised experiences within chat threads.
Citing examples, Zuckerberg said that with 'WhatsApp Flows' a bank can build a way for customers to book an appointment to open a new account, a food delivery service can build a way to place any order from any of their partner restaurants or an airline can build a way to check in for a flight and pick up a seat, all without having to leave the chat thread
"We've been hearing from a lot of businesses that they're very eager to build more credibility and get greater visibility. So I'm excited to start rolling out Meta Verified in the coming months," he added.
Whatsapp Payments
Secondly, he revealed WhatsApp payments services are now coming to India, which was launched in Brazil and Singapore. "With payments in India, we're going to support other payment methods as well, including all UPI apps. This is going to make it even easier for people to pay Indian businesses within a WhatsApp chat using whatever method they prefer," he said. With this feature, people will be able to purchase items and send a payment using the payment method of their choice without visiting other websites.
Meta for verified businesses
Meta also announced the expansion of Meta Verified to businesses on Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp to let people know that the businesses that they're messaging with are validated and authentic. In this feature, he said, businesses that subscribe are going to get a verified badge, account support, impersonation protection and additional features that will help people find them more easily. So for WhatsApp, this includes premium features like a custom web page and increased multi-device support.
"We've been hearing from a lot of businesses that they're very eager to build more credibility and get greater visibility. So I'm excited to start rolling out Meta Verified in the coming months. And we're going to continue to evolve what's included in the toolkit to make sure that we're bringing the best value to businesses," shared Zuckerberg.
