Microsoft expands Teams with new features. With this, they aim to offer features that competitors like Discord or Facebook have long provided.
The ability to communicate with each other is becoming increasingly important in our digital world. Major services like Facebook and Discord offer chat rooms where users can meet. Discord now also works on PS4 and PS5, but currently, you still have to deal with a few limitations.
Now Microsoft has unveiled a major update for its in-house service “Teams.” They are now expanding their client with new community features and are thus countering the competition.
Microsoft introduces communities in its own app
What is changing now? Microsoft is expanding its Teams client with new features. The existing features, such as sending messages, calling people, or sharing files, remain intact. The new part is that you can create rooms for communities where you can exchange ideas and plan things:
What can you do in the communities?
- Simple messaging to all members of the community group.
- You can organize events or add appointments to a calendar that all participants have access to.
- Sharing and storing documents intended for specific group activities.
- Additionally, you can filter content within the communities to quickly access photos, videos, events, and links.
Where can this be used? Communities are initially limited to the free consumer version of Teams at the start of the update. The Microsoft Teams apps for iOS and Android already support communities, while the desktop app will follow in the coming weeks.
Microsoft invests money in its own service after failed acquisitions of other companies
What is behind this? Microsoft has been trying to gain a foothold in communities for some time. However, in recent years, they have failed with every acquisition:
- A potential acquisition of TikTok failed in 2020. After political conflicts, they withdrew.
- In 2021, Microsoft wanted to acquire Pinterest for 51 billion US dollars. However, there was resistance from Pinterest.
- In mid-2021, the acquisition of Discord also failed. Microsoft was willing to lay down around 10 billion US dollars.
After the failed acquisitions, the tech giant is now likely investing its money in building its own community.
While gaming, I control Discord with my feet, and my team appreciates it
