Standard, large and broadcast groups

Not all groups behave the same. As a group gets bigger, some features would cost more than they are worth — a thousand typing indicators helps nobody — so Hitaji uses three tiers, and each one gives up something in exchange for scale.

Standard — up to 256 people

Everything is switched on. You see who is typing by name, you get read receipts for each person, full presence, reactions, and everyone can post. This is the right choice for almost every team group.

Large — up to 1,024 people

Still a conversation, but the detail is summarised. Typing is shown in aggregate rather than person by person, read receipts are aggregate too, and presence becomes a count rather than a list. Everyone can still post and react.

Broadcast — up to 10,000 people

This one is different in kind, not just in degree, and it catches people out. In a broadcast group:

• Only admins can post. Everyone else reads.
• Reactions are disabled. There is no thumbs-up, no acknowledgement.
• Typing indicators, read receipts and presence are all switched off.

That makes it excellent for an all-staff announcement and completely wrong for anything you want a response to. If you need to know people have read it, a broadcast group cannot tell you — pick standard or large instead, or send the announcement and open a separate channel for the discussion.

Direct messages

A one-to-one conversation always gets the full standard feature set, whatever else is going on. Typing indicators, read receipts, presence and reactions are all there.

Choose the tier for how the group will actually be used, not for how many people are in it today. Moving a lively discussion into a broadcast group silences it.