Instagram adds direct-to-fan broadcast chat Channels, Facebook coming soon
Instagram is adding Channels, a one-to-many messaging tool for musicians and creators to engage with followers.
At a time when algorithms are increasingly coming between artist and fan, the ability to reach followers directly provides a powerful tool, particularly for artists with a large following on Instagram.
Meta will add Channels to Facebook and Messenger in the coming months, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
How Channels Work
Musicians and music marketers can use Channels to reach out to followers using text, images, video, and voice notes to share updates and other casual content, as well as create polls to get fan feedback. Only creators can send messages, but followers can react and vote in polls.
In the coming months, Instagram says they will add more features, including bringing another creator into the channel, collecting questions for an AMA via question prompts, and more.
The images above and below show how XYLA used Channels and its tools, including a poll and an AMA, to announce and promote a tour.
Instagram has already begun testing the new chat feature with a handful of US creators and says it will roll it out to more “soon.”
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.
Great article! It’s great to see Instagram adding new features like Channels to help musicians and creators connect with their fans directly. In a world where algorithms are increasingly dictating what content we see, it’s refreshing to see social media platforms give more control to the people who create and share content. I’m excited to see what other features Instagram will add in the coming months, like the ability to bring another creator into a channel or to collect questions for an AMA. Overall, it’s a great move by Instagram and I’m looking forward to seeing how it will be used by creators and fans alike!