WhatsApp Business opened the ban for businesses to use the messaging application to communicate with their customers, as long as customers manually add the profile to their WhatsApp by phone number or QR code. A new test that opens in Brazil adds a directory of nearby companies that use WhatsApp.
Under the name of nearby businesses, WhatsApp will help you find companies around you that use WhatsApp, being able to filter by different business categories. All this, states Will Cathcart, privately, without sharing your location or what businesses you are looking for with Facebook.
Find companies to chat
WhatsApp has started a test of business directory at a nearby location, usually your own location. This test begins for the moment in Brazil, with an eye toward possible subsequent expansion to India and Indonesia. If successful, it could end up spreading to more cities.
So far, company profiles on WhatsApp are not too different from other people’s: you need to connect with them manually through your phone number or with the help of a link or QR code. This business directory adds a new way to do it: from WhatsApp itself.
The function is integrated discreetly when starting a new message, with a new icon called Nearby businesses. Tapping on it displays the list of available categories, as well as the location being used for the search. It is possible to change this location to search for businesses with WhatsApp in other places.
Each of the categories shows you businesses in that category, sorted by proximity to your location. The list shows the name, the photo, the address and the distance that separates you. Tapping on one of them expands the information, with two buttons available: chat or view profile.
This test will give more visibility to companies that use WhatsApp to communicate, although at the moment it does not seem clear if there will be a search engine or the business results will be integrated into the contact search engine.
Will Cathcart has highlighted on Twitter that this function is completely private, without the location being shared with Facebook or the types of businesses you trade for using the business directory. At the moment, it is a test: in the coming months we will know if it expands to other places or not.
Via | WaBetaInfo