Instagram appears to be testing a way to watch videos with friends

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Instagram appears to be testing a way to watch videos with friends

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Instagram appears to be testing a way to watch videos with friends

Instagram appears to be testing a co-watching feature.

Image: Chesnot/Getty Images

By Johnny Lieu2019-03-08 02:10:24 UTC

Some things are just better with friends.

Like watching videos on the internet, which Facebook has tried to make more social with the introduction of its Watch Party feature, introduced last year.

It appears the company is testing a similar co-watching feature on Instagram, as spotted by Jane Manchun Wong of Hong Kong.

The feature seems like it would be accessible during a video chat on Instagram Direct, and by clicking a button to activate it (as indicated by Wong's finger).

So far, it's unclear what kind of videos will be available to watch in the feature, but it would be unsurprising if it was used to help further push IGTV — Instagram's competitor to YouTube. 

As per Wong's screenshots, a suggested tab would pull in related videos, and you can also view a playlist of the videos you've selected. Instagram declined to comment on the feature to Mashable. 

"I’ll find it useful if there’s something interesting and worthy to watch together with friends abroad," Wong told Mashable via Twitter DM. "Fingers crossed, I hope they will make IGTV videos co watchable."

Since its launch, there have been 12 million Watch Parties created in Facebook Groups, so you can understand why the company would want to replicate social watching on Instagram.

As noted by New York Magazine in October, Instagram is struggling for eyeballs on IGTV, as influencers and creators note they don't get the same views there compared to YouTube.

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via Mashable https://ift.tt/2DCFv97

March 7, 2019 at 08:12PM