YouTube tests messaging feature to keep people in its app

Users can now interact with friends and like-minded YouTubers on a more inviting version of the app. Native sharing is, by definition, an easier way to share the videos you’re watching with other people.

The California-based company has included the feature in the app in a bid to increase the amount of videos shared by users in the app itself. Only time will tell whether this service gains popularity, or users will prefer to still share links via mobile through other methods. This messenger feature pushes it to become much more of a social community than it is today while also recognizing that a ton of socializing today is done on our cell phones through messaging, rather than more public social media. The new feature is a way for YouTube to ensure users are spending more time on their application. Even Amazon has launched Amazon Video Direct, a competing upload service.

The new native sharing service might actually turn YouTube into an instant messaging service, or at least similar to Facebook and Twitter in the sense that it will support private messages among a selected group. This feature allows users to chat with each other and share videos within the app. It’s essentially about building a micro-community around specific videos with your friends alone. The tab has been appearing on a small number of Android devices over the last 48 hours or so, and Wired published a post explaining the new feature. It’s a unique way of rolling out messaging before it becomes available to every user, encouraging people to get to know the feature and proactively use it to share content. “They can also set up strings of conversations and respond with videos and text”, according to a news report published by AD Week. While the video network is already a popular destination, YouTube wants to keep people in the app by having conversations about popular videos start and remain there.