How to Host a Facebook Watch Party – It’s entertaining to see videos that have been shared on Facebook, but it’s even more entertaining to watch them with a group of friends in real-time. This is possible using Facebook’s Watch Party tool.
What Is a Facebook Watch Party and How Do I Start One?
You can start a Facebook Watch Party from your personal profile on Facebook.com or from the Facebook iOS/Android mobile app. The instructions are the same for both, but screenshots are only available for the web edition.
- To open the post composer on Facebook.com, pick the plus sign (+) icon in the top right corner, followed by the post.
- Tap What’s on your mind in the window to open the post composer at the top of your News Feed.
- The post composer is also accessible from your profile page.
- Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner of the post composer on Facebook.com, then Watch Group.
- Scroll through the choices in the bottom menu of the app and choose Watch Group.
To add a video to your Watch party, do the following:
- If you want a specific video, use the search field at the top to look for it by title, genre, keyword, or other criteria.
- Playlists that have been recommended to you: To choose a video, pick entire playlists of videos such as Games, Relationships, Home & Garden, and more.
- Choosing a video you’ve never seen: To see your Facebook watch history, go to the horizontal menu and choose Watch.
- To choose a recent live video: Select Live from the horizontal menu to display a list of videos that are actually streaming live.
- To select a video you saved: Select Saved from the horizontal menu to see a list of videos you previously saved on Facebook.
- Selecting one of your own videos: Select My videos from the horizontal menu to see a list of videos you’ve posted.
- Select any video to add a blue checkmark to its checkbox.
- To add videos to your Watch Party, they must be set to public. You can also upload multiple videos, which will play in the order in which they were uploaded.
- In the top right corner, click Next (Facebook.com) or Done (Facebook.com) (mobile app).
- Your post composer will be updated with the video or videos you selected. In the post field above the images, you can add an optional summary.
- Choose Post.
- Your Watch Party will begin playing as soon as you post it, and your friends will be notified (if they have notifications turned on) so they can join in.
- To view your Watch Party post in full-screen mode, click or tap on it in your News Feed or on your profile.
- To share the video with specific mates, go to the bottom of the page and select Share.
If you’re on Facebook.com, you can also invite friends by using the search feature and the list of names on the right under Invite Others. The top of the list will be your online mates. To invite a mate, select Invite beside their name.
While the Watch Party is being hosted, you can add additional videos to your video queue. Click the blue Add Video button on the right side of Facebook.com to see a screen identical to the one displayed in step three. Click the plus sign (+) button underneath the video in the mobile app.
Look for the individual icon and number underneath the video to see how many people have watched it. On the videos, viewers will be able to leave comments and reactions.
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Add a Co-host to your Watch Party by searching for and choosing a name in the right column (Facebook.com only). Co-hosts have the ability to add more videos, as well as pause, play, fast forward, and rewind them.
When you’re ready to end your Watch Party, click the three dots in the top right corner of the Facebook.com video and choose End Watch Party, then End to confirm.