Naven
Answers
What is the difference between a channel and a group chat?
A group chat is a fixed set of people somebody added. A channel is a space with a link, which people join themselves — better above roughly a dozen members, and better when membership changes over time.
The practical difference is administration. In a group chat, somebody has to add each new person and that person has to be known to them. In a channel, the link does the work, and somebody who joins in month three can read what happened in month one.
Group chats are better for a fixed circle: a family, a set of friends, a project team that does not change. Channels are better for a club, a class, a neighbourhood or anything where people come and go.
On Naven both exist. A channel is created with a name and an emoji and produces a link; a private channel's link carries a secret so only people you sent it to can join.