Creators can now use broadcast channels as a casual, quick way to keep followers up-to-date. They can use text, photo, video and voice notes to share their latest updates and behind-the-scenes moments and even create polls to crowdsource fan feedback. Only creators can send messages, while followers can react to content and vote in polls.

“In the coming months, Instagram will be adding more features, such as the ability to bring another creator into the channel to discuss upcoming collabs, collect questions for an AMA via question prompts, and more - the possibilities for connecting with fans are endless, and we can't wait to see how creators begin using their channels.”

Broadcast channels are a public, one-to-many messaging tool for creators to directly engage with their followers at scale.

• Creators can use broadcast channels to help followers stay in-the-know with the latest updates and behind-the-scenes moments using text, photo, video, voice notes and polls. Followers can react to content and participate in polls, with more features coming soon.

• Starting today, we're testing the new chat feature with a handful of US creators and will begin rolling out to more creators soon.