Today users are watching 10 billion videos a day on Snapchat, rivaling Facebook.
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The feature, Instant Video, allows people to stream real-time video and audio to people using Messenger, and follows on from its hugely successful launch of Facebook Live earlier this year.
While you’re both viewing an open Messenger conversation, locate the video icon in the top right-hand corner.
“Video calling is still relatively new, and until recently, [it was] reserved for special occasions like celebrating “in person” with Grandma on her birthday or seeing Dad on a business trip”, Stan Chudnovsky, Messenger’s VP of Growth wrote in a blog post. “We simply expect to have that ability in real time, all the time”.
With more than 1 billion monthly active users on the app, Facebook wants to make it simpler for people to communicate with each other, especially since it views video as one of the next big opportunities.
I’m not sure how true that is.
This feature is ideal for when you’re chatting with a friend and are curious to know which pair of shoes you should wear or what type of dessert you should bring them from the ice cream store, or you find yourself in any other situation where an impromptu video would add to the live experience. But hey, Snapchat has it, so might as well bolt it on to Messenger.
Here’s how Facebook explains the new feature, which doesn’t include sound by default. This feature will only work between mobile devices.
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In recent months, video has taken on growing importance at Facebook where 1.71 billion users of the giant social network are being encouraged to create and share live video in the news feed. (You can always launch a regular video chat on Messenger if your friend isn’t now looking at the chat.) Your friend can share video back if they want. For Snapchat, it’s another piece of evidence that Facebook sees it as an existential threat – and that the company will go to great lengths to blunt its momentum.
