Facebook announces function to watch videos together in Groups

Facebook has announced a feature to watch videos together in Groups and respond to them in real time. The function should turn watching videos on the site or in the app into a social experience, the American company reasons.

The feature is called Watch Parties, says Facebook CEO Fidji Simo. Groups admins and moderators choose which videos users can watch, and Facebook simultaneously streams them to all users who are members of the Group and want to watch. This can be live videos or pre-recorded footage. The condition is that it is on Facebook: the function does not work with YouTube videos, for example.

It is currently still a small test with a limited number of Groups. The intention is to extend the Watch Party feature to all groups. In total, about a billion Facebook users use the Groups feature on the social network every month, Simo says.

It is unknown whether users from the Benelux are also involved in the test. Facebook won’t say when Watch Parties will be available to all users as a feature. With the social network, tests often take several months to a year.