Creativity in chats: Here’s how to make your point on WhatsApp's latest feature update

Format on chat: Popular messaging app WhatsApp has rolled out new text formatting options so that users can better organise and craft messages on WhatsApp.

These features, announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are in addition to pre-existing options for Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, and Monospace formatting options.

The features help save time and help people communicate more effectively via messaging, especially in group chats, according to a WhatsApp statement.

But what are these features, and how can users use them?
 

Source: WhatsApp

Zuckerberg shared the new features, highlighted in green, through the infographic. WhatsApp has over 2.78 billion monthly active users in over 180 countries, according to 2024 data shared by statistics platform DemandSage. These features make it easier to share structured information. 

1. Creating a Bulleted List: A bullet list can be handy to segregate pointers, or create a grocery list over WhatsApp. 

To start making one, users can start with a hyphen in front of the text they intend to make bold.

2. Creating a Numbered List: WhatsApp's recent update has also made it easier for users to start creating numbered lists, without manually entering numbers each time they want to start adding points to their stories. 

For this, they simply need to write 1 followed by a full stop (.) which will automatically start creating numbered lists for them.

3. Creating a Block Quote: A Block Quote is another way to distinguish your message. Making the text grey and segregated with a | sign, makes it more noticeable in messages. 

To create a block quote, users can use the > symbol followed by a space which would automatically create the sophisticated segregation seamlessly.

4. Creating an Inline Code:  An inline code can help distinguish specific information within a sentence. It creates a highlighted bubble in a distinguishable font, changing text colour to grey.

To create an Inline Code, the message needs to be followed by right-facing single quotes. 

Why these features?

The features come at a time when WhatsApp is used for official as well as personal messages.

Features like Channels are being used as a mode of mass media by noted personalities, celebrities, and organisations to communicate with a larger audience.

These text-formatting features make information easily consumable, amid an information influx, to make it easier for users to scan and understand content better.  

These features are easier than the existing formatting options, which needed symbols to be put at the beginning and toward the end of the text.