YouTube Brings a New Way to Share and Chat About Videos

YouTube is getting private conversations on its platform for a seamless user experience. The company has started testing a new direct messaging feature on its mobile app, letting users share videos and chat about them in one place. The feature is currently rolling out to adults (18 years or older) in Ireland and Poland.

You can now share and chat about videos directly on YouTube

Google continues to look for new ways to help users connect to YouTube. While the platform already offers comment sections, Community posts, Live Chats, and other tools, a private way to communicate is still missing. In 2017, the company launched a messaging feature, though it removed it in 2019. Now, it aims to bring back that capability in a new form.

On its support page, TeamYouTube wrote, “We’re experimenting with a new feature that makes it easy for you to share videos you love (long-form, Shorts and live streams) and have conversations about them directly on the YouTube mobile app.” The company further said you can still share YouTube videos through other apps you use today.

The new system lets you start a chat through an invite-based approach. You need to tap the Notification bell and send an invite link to the person you want to chat with. The recipient can choose to allow or decline the request. Note that invite links remain active for seven days. Once approved, you can begin sharing content and messages without leaving the platform.

YouTube has also integrated the feature into the video-sharing section. While watching a video, you can tap the Share button, pick a contact (one who approved your request), and then start chatting. As of now, it’s unclear when the company plans to make the feature available to everyone. We’ll let you know when it pushes the feature beyond Ireland and Poland.