Facebook launches watch party for communities

Facebook today launched Watch Party – a new experience inspired by Facebook Live set to bring the interactivity of Live to more videos on Facebook.

In a Watch Party, members of a group can watch videos together in the same space at the same time — live or recorded videos are chosen by the group admins and moderators. With everyone watching, commenting and reacting to the same moments together, it creates a shared viewing experience for video that helps build the kind of community and engagement we’ve seen with Live.

Facebook is starting with Groups because one billion people use Facebook Groups every month to connect around their passions and hobbies – from foodies, to dog lovers, to sports enthusiasts, to fans of video creators – and video is a huge part of this interaction.

Speaking on the feature, Mark Zukerberg said: “Facebook has always been about personal connections and making it easier for people to interact with each other 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. That’s something Facebook can do better than anyone else, and it’s something Facebook Live has done from the start. 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.”

About Facebook

Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Facebook has 2.07 billion monthly active users and 1.37 billion daily active users on average worldwide and 10 million daily users and 22 million monthly active users from Nigeria.