IANS | 18 Jan, 2018
Facebook has
introduced a feature called "Watch Party" that will let the members
of a group watch videos and interact with each other at the same time.
"In a Watch Party, members of a group can watch videos together in the
same space at the same time -- videos are chosen by the group admins and
moderators and can be any public videos on Facebook (live or recorded),"
said Fidji Simoi, Facebook's Vice President of Product in a post late on
Wednesday.
He said that with everyone watching, commenting and reacting to the same
moments together, it creates a shared viewing experience for video that helps
build a community.
The social media giant is starting to roll out the feature with groups because
"a billion people use Facebook groups every month to connect around their
passions and hobbies and video is a huge part of this interaction."
The executive also said that viewing the videos together on the platform will
also create an engagement which is similar to the one which is created by
Facebook Live.
Today, live videos generate an average of six times as many interactions as
regular videos.
Facebook said it would learn from the experience and hope to expand "Watch
Party" in the future.
Last week Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the platform has always been
about personal connections and interactions in meaningful ways.
"As we think about video on Facebook, we're focused on creating
experiences that bring people closer together and inspire human connection
instead of passive consumption," he had said, adding, "We are excited
about what might be possible when we bring the best elements of Live that
people love to more video experiences like Watch Parties."