Watch parties – the go-to group watch feature

What is a watch party and how does it work?

With watch parties, you can watch movies or shows online while chatting with friends and family all at the same time.

You can choose whatever show or movie you want to watch, share the link with your friends or family and start talking to them via the group chat feature – this appears on the same screen you are streaming on.

Available watch party sources

Netflix Party
Anyone using this service will need a Netflix account, it’s free but you can only stream from a Chrome browser and only from either a desktop or a laptop.

Facebook Watch Party
You can create a Watch Party (need to be an admin or editor to start) from your News Feed or timeline, in a group, on a page, or from any video you’re watching.

Beyond these popular platforms, there are other third-party tools that can enable you to use YouTube or Facebook to create watch parties. Take a look here.

How do watch parties work?

Netflix Party

• Install the extension. After you install the extension, a little ‘NP’ icon will appear in your Google Chrome browser.
• When you start watching a Netflix video, you can click on the icon and create a link.
• You can then share this link with anyone you want to watch Netflix with (so long as they also have the Netflix Party extension).

How to start a Netflix Party

Facebook Watch Party

• You can create a Watch Party (need to be an admin or editor to start) from your News Feed or timeline, in a group, on a page, or from any video you’re watching.

How to start a Facebook Watch Party

Are there any privacy and safety concerns?

Netflix Party – It is relatively safe as you only communicate with people that you have shared the Netflix Party link with.
According to Netflix Party’s Privacy Policy, the service is for users aged 13+. And Netflix’s Terms of Use say that anyone under the age of 18 must only use the service while being supervised by an adult.

Facebook Watch Party – Your watch history is never visible to others on Facebook; however, the following may be seen:

• Liking or following a Page
• Liking a video
• Commenting on a Page or video: Any comments you make can be seen by anyone on Facebook
• Joining a watch party: Keep in mind that a watch party isn’t public. If you’re invited to a watch party, only the people in the watch party will know that you joined
• Hosting a watch party: Only the people you choose to share your watch party with will know about it. When your watch party ends, a recap post with a video summary is shared with your selected audience
• Sharing an episode or series: You can choose to share a video to your timeline or in a direct message to a person or group. When you do this, it will be visible to your selected audience

How to keep your child safe while using the watch party feature

Facebook has a minimum age of 13 years old, so be sure kids under this age are not using the app. If your teen is using Facebook Watch Party, they can always set the audience for their posts at the time of posting or in their privacy settings.
When using Netflix Party, remind your child not to share this link with anyone they don’t know and make sure they’re supervised when using the extension.