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YouTube brings its messaging feature to the web

YouTube brings its messaging feature to the web

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Because we have not yet reached peak messaging on Google products, YouTube is now bringing its previously mobile-only messaging feature to the web. Now, when you’re logged into your Google account and browsing YouTube.com, you can share and talk about videos with your friends right on the site. You can access conversations from the chat bubble icon next to the notifications bell on the upper right corner. Chat histories will pop up on the bottom left of the screen and allow you to continue conversations, just like Hangouts on the web or from your Gmail web inbox.

You can share content into private conversations using the share button under any YouTube video and select a contact (or multiple, if you want to discuss in a group). Like many other messaging apps, you can leave hearts to like a video or message in the chat.

As I’ve noted when the feature initially launched, this won’t likely change the way you’re already sharing and discussing YouTube videos with friends, but if you’re a heavy YouTube watcher, perhaps it’s convenient to have the chat window directly within the webpage than to move to other apps to talk.