Instagram Launches Co Watching feature to promote social distancing
Co-watching is a new feature that allows users to view Instagram posts together. Multiple friends can connect via video chat and browse content as a group.
Scrolling through your Instagram feed has, until now, been something you do on your own. However, with more and more people staying away from friends and family to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Instagram has rolled out a new feature called Co-Watching to help users feel, well, less isolated.
The new feature allows friends on a video chat (even a group chat) to browse through posts that one of them has ‘liked’ or ‘saved’ in their Instagram feed. It even allows participants of the video call to view others’ Instagram recommendations.
This gives friends and family a way to talk about different posts on the photo- and video-sharing platform, giving them a way to stay connected.
How it works
Using Co-Watching is really simple: Head to Instagram Direct (the direct messaging feature on the platform) by tapping on the ‘paper plane’ icon on the top right corner of the app.
Then start a new video chat by searching for or selecting a contact in the inbox, then tapping the video camera icon on this direct messaging page. Once you’ve begun chatting, just tap on the photo icon at the bottom of the pane to view all recently liked, saved and Instagram recommendations available on your feed.
The one you select will appear on the screen for all participants on the video chat.
