COVID-19 has dramatically contradistinct how we all go almost our daily lives, and rightly and so. As social distancing protocols limit our ability to travel and interact with people in person — and volition continue to do so for the foreseeable future — finding culling ways to connect with friends, co-workers, and family has never been more important.

One gratis, easy-to-access tool in simply about everyone's arsenal? Facebook Scout Party, i.e., Facebook's built-in coviewing feature.

Wait, what is Facebook Watch Party?

Facebook Watch Party is a characteristic that lets people sentinel and comment on Facebook videos at the same fourth dimension from separate locations, creating a coviewing experience. So instead of sending that funny cat video you lot saw on Facebook to your grouping conversation, you can actually invite people to picket it together and react in real time.

You lot tin can starting time a Watch Party for a live video or a prerecorded video that'due south already been uploaded. Yous can besides create a Sentinel Party for other people's or pages' videos, merely more on that afterward!

Why should I utilise Watch Party?

The master benefit of Facebook Watch Political party is the power to provide a shared viewing experience. This can be extremely useful for a broad variety of contexts and industries. Here are a few examples:

  • Local news outlets and governments: Share briefings and other pertinent news with audiences — up-to-date information is especially important right now given the rapidly changing nature of COVID-xix. More than one-half of Americans get their news from social media, so why non run across the people where they already are?
  • Humane societies, food banks, and other nonprofits: Many charitable organizations are actively recruiting volunteers and collecting donations to assist their communities. Facebook Watch Political party offers the perfect platform for announcements or info virtually hours, requests, and services provided, every bit well as opportunities for Q&Equally from volunteers, donors, and people in need of aid.
  • Schools and educational institutions: Facebook groups fabricated for individual classes allow students and teachers to connect over specific lessons and coursework. In addition, they provide an outlet for full general updates for parents and students about closures and any possible reopenings.
  • Fitness studios and gyms: COVID-19 closures of nonessential businesses mean many people have turned to online, streamed workouts as a solution for staying fit and healthy at home. Host a Watch Party and invite your members to join!
  • Religious organizations: Offering your congregation and worshippers the risk to come together as a community, whether it exist for a streamed worship service or just a cheque-in to say how-do-you-do.

OK, how practice I get-go a Picket Party?

So you've decided to endeavor Picket Party — yay! Luckily, the process is pretty straightforward and follows the same steps whether you're posting from a personal Facebook profile, a Facebook group, or a Facebook Page. There are a couple of things to consider before diving in:

  • If you lot're hosting a Spotter Party from a group or a page, everyone who's in the group or who follows the folio will have access to the party. If you lot're hosting from your personal profile, on the other mitt, you take the option to select "Friends," "Friends except," "Specific friends," or a custom list of people who tin can access the party.
  • But Sentry Parties from pages can exist scheduled in accelerate, and only page admins tin can host.
  • Once Sentry Parties end, regardless of where they're posted, they will be saved as a postal service, and that mail will include whatsoever comments or boosted videos shared during the political party.

To outset a Lookout man Party, follow these steps:

i. If y'all're hosting a Sentinel Party from a Facebook page or grouping, visit the page or grouping where you'd like to host the political party. If yous're hosting on your personal Facebook profile, merely go to your own profile!

2. If you're posting a Watch Party that you lot want to showtime immediately, click Write a mail service, then look for the popcorn emoji and click Lookout Party. [If you're scheduling a Watch Political party in advance (simply available on Facebook pages), click the Creator Studiolink. So click Create Post, click Create Post over again, choose Watch Party, and proceed the same style.]

Posting a Watch Party on your folio, group, or contour

How to create a Facebook Watch Party

Scheduling a Spotter Party from Creator Studio

Scheduling a Watch Party through Creator Studio

Scheduling a Facebook Watch Party in advance

3. Search for a video or click a category tab to see what's available. If you're hosting a alive Sentry Political party, click the Alive tab, which will show y'all videos that are currently streaming. You can also option from videos you lot've uploaded to Facebook (under Folio tab) or videos you've watched in the past (nether Watched tab).


Choosing a video for a Facebook Watch Party
four. Click Add to Queue side by side to any videos yous'd like to include in your Watch Party. (You tin can add multiple videos to a single Spotter Political party if you want to host a viewing marathon.) Then click Done.

5. Add a description for your Watch Party, and post! Voila!

Posting a Facebook Watch Party

Social distancing in the age of COVID doesn't have to hateful emotional distancing. We're all connected more than than we think — sometimes nosotros just need technology to help u.s. remember that.