Facebook Messenger has added a slew of fresh features to the messaging platform meant to allow admins of group chats to control the overall experience of members. The social networking giant announced that it is beginning to roll out admin privileges to group chats to let admins approve new members before they can start participating in group conversations. Facebook also added the ability for group chat admins to remove members at any given time or control the status of any member, either by promoting them to the admin role or demoting them when necessary.
Keep in mind, though, that this feature is optional and group chat creators can choose to switch it on anytime as it is turned off by default. Group chat members also have the ability to create a custom invite link, called joinable links, which they can share with anyone they want to join the group conversation. Any recipients of the custom link will be able to join a group chat automatically, provided the admin privileges are not enabled, or wait for the group admin to approve the request for their addition. The admin privileges and joinable links have also arrived for Workplace by Facebook, bringing the same new experiences to people at work who need to get some tasks done using the platform.
The new features mark the latest improvements to how users chat with their friends and family using Messenger. In March last year, Facebook added the Reactions and Mentions features to Messenger in an effort to improve the quality of group conversations in terms of both their usefulness and entertainment value. Reactions let users respond to particular messages with a wide selection of emojis already available on Facebook, while Mentions allow them to tag other users so that they are notified once new messages are directly addressed to them. Prior to that, Facebook introduced emojis to Messenger in 2016, with the full list encompassing more than 1,500 emojis that include human-looking emojis that provide equal treatment to race and gender preference of Facebook’s more than two billion users. In June 2017, Messenger also gained a bevy of fresh features for its video chat service including animated reactions, filters, masks and effects, and the ability to take screenshots.
