Watch Together: New Facebook Messenger feature allows friends to watch TV in Rooms

The feature is an attempt to ‘replicate that experience of sitting together on the couch’

Facebook's Watch Together can be accessed in Messenger Rooms and video chats (Facebook)

Facebook has launched a new feature inside its Messenger app called Watch Together, offering a way for users to watch a video while also viewing live video of those watching.

The feature is rolling out to both iPhone and Android users globally and comes amid a surge in similar features from tech firms to facilitate remote socialising during the coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook’s Watch Together can be accessed in Messenger Rooms and in video calls.

Users need to swipe up to access the menu and select the feature.

From there users can watch suggested videos from certain categories, including ‘TV & Movies,’ ‘Watched’ ‘or ‘Uploaded’, as well as searching for specific videos.

Users are able to watch videos with up to a maximum of eight people in a Messenger call, or up to 50 people in a Messenger Room.

Videos are able to be watched in portrait mode or landscape.

“Every day, there are more than 150 million video calls on Messenger, and more than 200 million videos sent via Messenger," Facebook product manager Nora Micheva said in a blog post. 

“Now, with Watch Together, you can enjoy videos and share the experience with your friends in real time.”

The company said it was “attempting to replicate that experience of sitting together on the couch," according to Olivia Grace, a product manager for Facebook Messenger, speaking to Cnet.

It is also part of a greater trend in the platform to focus on video content, which is popular with young people.

“It’s really getting more and more visual, and it continues to grow very, very fast,” said Stan Chudnovsky, VP of Messenger, in an interview with The Verge. 

Early tests, Chudnovsky said, were more popular with young people who do not have their own laptops and therefore primarily access Facebook through their smartphones.

“The younger you are, the more you like it,” he said.