While every platform is trying to compete with YouTube on video, no-one would have seen this coming: YouTube is testing its own in-app messenger feature.
Wired is reporting that YouTube is preparing to launch a messaging service that lives within its mobile apps that allows users to chat with friends and share embedded videos.
Sharing videos on mobile used to be all about mastering the art of copy/paste. You would have to copy the URL from your player and then paste it onto whatever messaging app you were using to send it to your friends. The new built-in messenger gets rid of the process as you can natively share fully embedded videos with your friends.
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In turn, they can send you back another video or a text message. And there’s even a ‘heart’ button to like what your friends send you (much like on Instagram Direct in fact.)
It’s actually a pretty neat add-on for YouTube. Videos tend to generate a lot of conversation online, and it seems like a clever move from the company to try and make people stay on their app rather than switch to another messaging app. As Wired was quite right to say
The messaging add-on is currently being tested with a small batch of users, but it should spread quite fast as test users can make it available to their friends by inviting them to join a conversation.
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