Facebook’s “Watch Party” is a new way for users to watch videos. This idea may be relatively new to Facebook (minus their screensharing feature in their Workplace product) but not to the world of social media with YouTube having private live streams for years.
Group leaders in tests have stated that they’re looking to use this new feature for activities like Q&As for hobbies, sharing behind the scenes, or real-time tutorials.
Facebook’s Watch Party also has the potential to become the social media version of Netflix if Facebook went into the industry of video streaming studio-produced content.
However, the focus for Watch Party will probably be peer-to-peer related experiences Earlier in January, Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook Post how over the years brands, businesses, and general media have been domineering the personal connections on Facebook.
Zuckerberg stated that while he expected this would affect engagement on Facebook initially to go back to tight-knit community products, eventually this would be better for Facebook’s health in the longterm.