How to Host a Facebook Watch Party

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Watch any Facebook video in real time with your friends. It’s fun to watch videos that have been posted on Facebook, but it’s even more fun when you watch them in real time with a group of friends. You can do this with Facebook’s Watch Party feature.

What Is a Facebook Watch Party?

A Facebook Watch Party is a dedicated post for a live watch session of a video or series of videos. When you click on the post, the video opens in full screen mode alongside additional features that can be used for the Watch Party. It’s similar to a Facebook live stream, but the video doesn’t necessarily need to be live. It just has to be hosted on Facebook.

Friends can join in your Watch Party and watch alongside with you. There’s also a comment section so you can chat about the videos as you watch them together.

How to Start a Facebook Watch Party

You can start a Facebook Watch Party using your personal profile from Facebook.com on the web or via the Facebook mobile app for iOS/Android. Instructions are provided below for both, but screenshots are provided only for the web version.

–> On Facebook.com, select the plus sign (+) icon in the top right followed by post to open the post composer.

On the app, tap What’s on your mind? at the top of your News Feed to open the post composer.

Tip: You can also access the post composer from your profile page.

–> On Facebook.com, select the three dots in the bottom right of the post composer and then choose Watch Party.

On the app, scroll through the options in the bottom menu and select Watch Party.

–> Add a video to your Watch party by:

-> Searching for a video: Use the search field at the top to search by title, genre, keyword, etc.
-> Browsing suggested playlists: Select entire playlists of videos like Games, Relationships, Home & Garden and more to select a video.
-> Selecting a video you already watched: Select Watch from the horizontal menu to see your watch history on Facebook.
-> Selecting a current live video: Select Live from the horizontal menu to see a list of videos that are currently streaming live.
-> Selecting 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 uploaded.

Select any video to add a blue checkmark to its checkbox.

Note: Videos must be set to public to add them to your Watch Party. You can also add multiple videos, which will play in the order that they’re added.

–> Select Next (Facebook.com) or Done in the top right corner (mobile app).

–> The video or videos you chose will be added to your post composer. Add an optional description in the post field above the videos.

–> Select Post.

–> Once you post your Watch Party, it will start playing and your friends will be notified (if they have notifications enabled) so they can join in.

Click or tap on your Watch Party post in your News Feed or on your profile to view it in full screen mode.

–> Select Share at the bottom of the video to share it to specific friends.

Tip: If you’re on Facebook.com, you can also use the search function and list of names on the right under Invite Others to invite friends. Online friends will be listed at the top. Select Invite beside any friend to send them an invite.

–> Optionally add additional videos to your Watch Party video queue as the Watch Party is being hosted. On Facebook.com, select the blue Add Video button on the right to see a similar screen shown in step three.

On the mobile app, select the plus sign (+) button beneath the video.

–> To see how many viewers there are, look for the person icon and number beneath the video. Viewers will be able to leave comments and reactions on the videos.

Tip: Add a Co-host to your Watch Party by selecting Add Co-host in the right column (Facebook.com only) to search and select a name. Co-hosts can add more videos, pause, play, fast forward and rewind the videos.

–> When you want to end your Watch Party, select the three dots in the top right corner of the video of Facebook.com and select End Watch Party followed by End to confirm.

To end your Watch Party on the mobile app, tap the video and then tap the X that appears in the top left corner. Tap End Watch Party followed by End to confirm.

Host a Watch Party from a Page or Group

The instructions above show you how to host a Watch Party from your Facebook profile, but you can do it from a Page or a Group too. To do it from a Page, however, you must be an admin or editor of that Page.

Start a Watch Party from a Page or Group by navigating to that Page or Group and finding the post composer. On a Page, this is the Create Post button and in a Group, it’s the field labeled, What’s on your mind, name? Then you can simply follow steps two through 10 above.

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