Youtube adds a messaging feature to its app

The undisputed king of the Internet video platform, YouTube, is planning to enter into messaging services domain by launching an in-app messenger so you can chat and share with friends on YouTube itself, like any messenger app.

According to Wired, YouTube has launched a "Native Sharing" feature for selected users that lets them converse with others via text, photos, and links inside the YouTube mobile app. One can even share a video with friends and chat about it directly. The company thinks itcan increase the amount of videos its users share with others if it lets them do so natively, inside the YouTube’s mobile apps. They can then spread the feature to their friends by inviting them into conversation threads. Friends can chat about the shared video right inside YouTube’s mobile app. They can also reply with another video. Messages remain in a separate tab that can be accessed anytime, so groups can dip in and out of conversations and catch up on what they missed or add new videos of their own.

YouTube wants internet users to think of its app as a destination they can spend time in, and not just a place they pop in and out of with a link when they're looking for something specific. Shimrit Ben-Yair, the video service's director of product management, says they "created the feature because her team believes it would result to even more sharing."

Today, the average YouTube viewing session on a mobile device is 40 minutes. With billion-plus users consuming videos rapidly on the site, YouTube is still the clear leader in internet video, reaching more and more people from 18 to 49-year-olds.

To join the list of rivals, Amazon also announced its own online video posting service - Amazon Video Direct - on the same day with YouTube's new feature.