Instagram is getting a new broadcast chat feature called Broadcast Channels. The feature was announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and appears to be inspired by Telegram Channels. It is aimed at giving creators a new way of interacting with their followers where they can broadcast a message to all of them with just one tap.

A broadcast chat message can be a text, photo, video, voice note, or even a poll. The last one is to get followers' feedback on anything a creator would like to know their views on. Only the creator can send messages on a Broadcast Channel and as for followers, they can read and react to those messages. They can also vote if there is a poll message.

Instagram says Broadcast Channels are currently available only to select creators in the United States. Once a creator gets access to the feature, a channel can be created from the Instagram inbox. All followers of the creator will receive a one-time notification to notify them about the channel creation and to urge them to join. All subsequent notifications will be sent only to those who will join the channel.

Other than the one-time notification, creators can encourage followers to join their channel by adding stickers in Stories and pinning the channel URL in the profile. For creators with Subscriptions enabled, they can choose whether the channel can be joined by all of their followers or only paid subscribers. The latter gives them the opportunity to share exclusive content with subscribers.

Followers will have the freedom to mute or leave a channel whenever they want. They can also turn off notifications completely if they simply want to avoid receiving them for some time.