As part of its commitment to ensuring that messaging remains fun and engaging, WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature, or better put, they have revamped the old status update feature on the messaging platform. This is part of a long streak of updates released by the Facebook-owned company over the past few months.
The new status update now features some extra multimedia elements like photo and video sharing, GIFs and so on, in addition to a whole new interface. Also, WhatsApp has given up on the cliché status updates “Available”, “Busy”, “At the Movies”, and so on. Status updates now have a dedicated tab just beside the Chats tab, unlike before when they were not so obvious.
The new status update is quite identical to Instagram stories (or SnapChat), in that you can post several updates through the day and after 24hours, they all disappear. You can also see the number of people that have viewed your status update by swiping up. Also, when viewing your friends’ updates, you can swipe up and send them a reply.
Privacy settings give you control over your audience. If you click on the three-dot menu on the top right, you’ll see an option called Status Privacy where you can choose what category of people should view your status update.
WhatsApp also states that just like your conversations, your status updates are also end-to-end encrypted. But it’s always wise not to post sensitive info on social media, you’ll never know who is watching or who is taking a screenshot of your status.