Facebook launches Watch Party, a new way to stream videos with friends

With so much in the news about data leaks and misinformation, the most recent announcement from Facebook is actually a breath of fresh air.

Today, Facebook has officially announced the launch of Watch Party, a feature that lets people in Facebook Groups watch live or pre-recorded videos together (and chat) in real time.

The social media company has been testing out the communal viewing feature for a few months now. With today’s announcement, Watch Party is officially opening up to all Facebook Groups.

The feature is actually quite cool in practice. Facebook users can simply click the “Watch Party” button in the post section of a Facebook Group. 

The user then selects a few Facebook videos, live or prerecorded ones, and the Watch Party begins. Members of the Facebook Group can watch and comment together at the same time on the videos. It’s sort of like setting up your own TV channel and watching the schedule lineup with a group of friends.

The feature does have a few restrictions. For now, a Watch Party can only be launched inside of a Facebook Group. However, the company did mention in its announcement that it’s testing out Watch Parties outside of Facebook Groups and is planning to experiment with Watch Parties on Facebook Pages too.

Another limitation of Watch Parties is that users can only add Facebook hosted videos to the queue. You can’t add content from YouTube or other video streaming websites.

Speaking of other video streaming websites, there have been attempts made by third parties for a long while to integrate Watch Party-like features into their platforms. While chatting and streaming video at the same time isn’t exactly new, Watch Party’s additional c is what sets it apart. Watch Party allows for a segmented group to watch multiple synced up videos together. Its like your own private theater just for your friends so you can all watch and talk about the same exact Facebook videos at the same exact time, no matter where your buddies are. 

People like watching films, TV, and internet videos together. Perhaps Facebook will open the floodgates for other services to roll out Watch Party-esque features of its own.

It’s easy sometimes to forget Facebook’s best feature is the ability to connect with friends and family anytime, anywhere. Facebook Watch is a rare positive step to getting the company back to basics.