YouTube has launched a messaging feature built directly in the video app, making it easier for users to chat and share videos on a one-to-one basis.
The feature has been tested since May 2015, and the new addition is only available in Canada, which has proved to be a key area for YouTube.
Users in Canada share 15% more videos than the average user, and its home to a strong YouTube star community, Google product manager Shimrit Ben-Yair said.
If successful, Google will most likely roll out the feature on a global scale, which would solidify the company’s goal of creating a more social friendly platform, and could ultimately help YouTube.
The top four messaging apps — Facebook’s Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Viber — now claim nearly 3 billion monthly active users combined, narrowly outnumbering the combined active users on the world’s four largest social networks, including Facebook.