Facebook Gaining Watch Party, Overhauled Groups, and New Dating Feature

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this morning hosted a keynote event for the F8 developers conference, where he unveiled several new features that are coming to the social network.

Watch Party is a new Facebook feature that will allow you to watch videos while also chatting with your friends. When introducing the feature, Zuckerberg joked about his recent congressional testimony. "Let's say your friend is testifying in Congress," he said. "Now you can watch and laugh together, cry together."


Facebook plans to overhaul the Groups feature, which Zuckerberg says is one of the most meaning parts of Facebook. There will be a new groups tab to make groups more central to the overall Facebook experience. A new join group button and plugin will be available to developers and website administrators to make it easier for Facebook users to create and join groups.

The other major feature that's coming to Facebook is a dating feature, which Zuckerberg says is designed to help people build meaningful relationships. "This is for building real long-term relationships, not just hookups," said Zuckerberg.

The dating feature will be within Facebook, and it will be opt-in, allowing people to make a dating profile if desired. Facebook says the feature has been built with "Privacy and Safety in mind." Your friends will not see your profile, friends won't come up as dating options, and you'll only see suggestions of people who fit your preferences

For WhatsApp, Facebook's popular encrypted messaging app, Facebook will add Group Video calling features and it will expand WhatsApp businesses to allow larger companies to access WhatsApp for interacting with customers.

For Messenger, Facebook is redesigning the app's interface with a focus on making it clean, fast, and simple. Messenger will also gain the AR Camera Effects platform for using augmented reality effects when connected to friends and family.