WhatsApp is one of the most widely used digital communication platforms in the world, with over 2.7 billion monthly active users in over 180 countries.

Since being acquired by Facebook in 2014, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made no secret of his desire to shift WhatsApp into a traditional social media platform rather than just a messenger service.

In 2017 WhatsApp "Status" was introduced as a way to share ideas, pictures and videos. With half a billion WhatsApp status posts a day, this created unfiltered and unrestricted access to content for users.

Last week WhatsApp took the next step toward being a traditional social media platform by introducing “Channels”.

Why is this problematic?

For more information on how this impacts our community, please read the linked article by the Founder and President of Safe Telecom, Eli Samuel.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whatsapps-controversial-shift-what-channels-means-our-eli-samuel

• How does this change impact your school community?
• Do your school policies meet the new challenge?
• How should you respond?

Ultimately the answers to these questions will be unique to each school and school leaders should use this an opportunity to reflect on their current approach to technology and tweak as necessary.

Tweaking is an important part of a schools comprehensive technology strategy.



https://www.cojds.org/2022/12/23/comprehensive-technology-strategy-why-every-school-needs-one-and-how-to-develop-it/

For guidance and support on developing your school's comprehensive technology strategy please reach out to info@thedigitalcitizenship.com

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