The current situation demands a lot from people. The current pandemic has forced many people to stay at home to protect themselves and other...
It is said that up to 150 million video calls are made and 200 million video clips are sent daily via Facebook Messenger.
So if you take a closer look at these numbers, then the Watch Together feature seems to be the perfect solution for the current situation.
What exactly Watch Together is, how it works and how you can best use the function is explained in the following article.
What is Watch Together exactly?
Not only because of the current pandemic but video conferencing has also become an essential part of our lives. This not only affects the world of work but also your private life.
Because meeting several people is currently difficult. Instead, many people communicate via video portals such as Zoom or Skype in order to maintain contact.
The Facebook developers have now come up with a great function here, which was also implemented in Facebook Messenger: the so-called Watch Together or on other platforms also called Watch Party.
Roughly speaking, Watch Together is a kind of digital movie night. If you opened a video group chats in Facebook Messenger, you can enable the feature.
The desired video clip is then played, which all group participants can follow and see each other at the same time.
This way you can interact with the participants of the chat and you can exchange information about what is happening in the video.
The perfect solution for creative people
One group of people in particular benefits from this function. For example, musicians can present their latest pieces of music via Messenger and thus receive live reactions to them.
A normal video call via Messenger allows up to eight people to play a video or piece of music at the same time.
If a larger group of people is planned, the so-called messenger room is a suitable alternative. This even offers space for up to 50 people, who can all see the respective video at the same time.
The Watch Together function is therefore perfect for celebrating the premiere of a new music video or something similar virtually, or for playing it to your loyal fans and observing the first reaction directly.
But this function is not only associated with great added value for musicians. For example, joint workouts can also be carried out via the messenger rooms.
This is particularly interesting for fitness trainers, as they are very limited in the current situation. Working out together with several people is easily possible via Messenger – even from home.
Extremely popular with young people
The Watch Together feature has been extremely popular with younger participants since the beginning of the pandemic. Streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix, and Disney + implemented this function in early 2020 and it was very popular.
The advantages compared to Facebook Messenger are clear. The streaming providers have a much larger selection of series and films here.
In addition, the function can also be used on the television, while the Messenger function can only be used on the smartphone.
However, this does not detract from the growing obesity of Messenger. The only observation here is that the target group tends to be limited to younger people.
This fact results from the fact that most younger people do not have their own laptop or computer and consume the short clips on Facebook on their smartphone anyway.
Accordingly, significantly more younger people use the Watch Together function of the messenger.
How does Watch Together work on Messenger?
First, you have to download the latest version of the messenger or update it.
Since the Watch Together feature has only recently become available, this is necessary. You then open a normal video call with your friends.
If you need more than the eight people allowed for your video call, you can open a messenger room. As already mentioned, up to 50 people can participate here.
By swiping up (Swipe Up) you start the Watch Together function. There you will first be offered some suggestions for videos that you can watch together with your conference.
The videos are sorted into categories from which you can then select the appropriate video. In addition, self-uploaded videos and clips that you have already viewed are also displayed.
Watch Together gives every user the same access rights. So there is not only one host who decides what kind of video is watched, but everyone has the same permissions and can freely decide which video should be watched.
Everyone from the so-called watch party can interrupt, pause or fast-forward and rewind the current clip.
A very nice feature in the current situation
With Watch Together, Facebook is also addressing the current hype surrounding watch parties.
The function in Messenger is a nice addition to networking with friends, even if they are not there in person.
The social network Facebook now offers a quite impressive collection of different clips, which doesn't have to hide from video giants like YouTube.
Accordingly, you have enough material so that you and your friends do not get bored.
However, if you have planned a movie night together, it is better to use the Watch Party function from one of the streaming providers such as Netflix and Co.
Netflix Party (now Telepathy)
Amazon watch party
Watch2Gether (Original)
Watch Together is really only suitable for watching smaller video excerpts together. However, the benefit is immense, especially for people from the creative field. Therefore, in summary, the function is a great and well-rounded thing, which offers some advantages and a lot of fun.
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