Facebook Messenger has decided to kick things up a notch, introducing live video group chats onto the platform today – just in time for Christmas!
The new feature means you can host a split-screen group call with up to six of your mates at once.
Up to 50 people can listen, or talk over voice during the call as well (although a 50 person group convo sounds like a living nightmare, tbh).
OH, almost forgot – very, VERY important info: they have selfie masks (à la Snapchat) which for some reason is now a must-have for all video-based apps targeted at #Millennials.
With group chats becoming more and more of a thing over the past few years as a hyper-convenient way to organise and connect friendship groups, video calling offers seemingly boundless opportunities to hang out with your mates 24/7.
Say, for example, your buds are scattered all around the globe, if you can nab some decent WiFi reception (more likely to be able to do this overseas than in Australia, *sigh*), you could all catch up at the press of a button.
Or if you’re brave enough to be FB friends with the family on Facebook, you can make sure that no-one misses out on opening pressies on Christmas morning by getting everyone on a group video call.
Video calls in group chats will also mean that you can interact live with your mates without having to go through the humiliation of hosting a Facebook Live video to every one of your Facebook friends.
It’s the next big step for Messenger as it tries to pull in people from competitors like Whatsapp and Houseparty, and have all your communication needs centralised in the one place.
In April 2015, Messenger launched one-on-one video calling, and group audio calls were launched eight months ago.
But with this latest addition, it’s become the first popular messaging app with a native group video function (Google Hangouts has one, to be fair, but Hangouts is pretty much only used in workplaces).
It’s taken a little while but Messenger has finally become a force to be reckoned with.
The new feature is available today on iOS and Android, so make sure your app is updated and you should be good to go.
