YouTube in-app messenger service with a native sharing feature launched

YouTube has released a native messaging and sharing feature on its Android and iOS apps, for some users, in order to retain users visiting the apps. The sharing features are different from the current set of options. The new feature is meant to enable you to share videos and chat with a group of your friends, rather than comment or share it with the wider YouTube community. This means that you will no longer need to copy links to videos to be shared later with friends. Rather you will get a share button which will let you add the friends with whom you want to share the video in the app itself. At the moment, this feature is live for only a select number of users. These users can invite their friends to try out the messaging feature. Friends can talk about the YouTube video right inside the YouTube mobile app, can reply with another video or via text, photos and emojis. All these message threads will reside under a new tab on the YouTube mobile app which means you can go in and out of conversations at ease. According to Wired, the average time spent watching YouTube videos is 40 minutes and it reaches more 18-49 year olds in the US than even cable TV there. YouTube’s move comes at a time when Facebook and Snapchat are ramping up their video features. Also Amazon has also recently launched its own video service called Amazon Video Direct to compete with YouTube. Let us know if this service is activated for you, and what are your impressions.