Facebook Messenger joins the fray with new Instant Video feature

Being that many of us are intertwined with the social network machine that is Facebook, we inherently use its Messenger chatting client as a primary form of communication (especially since it was made mandatory). Therefore, it’s imperative that Facebook keep up with features that we’d expect to see in a competent messaging platform. We learned that it’s doing just that in regard to video chatting, by rolling out a new feature called Instant Video.

There isn’t a whole lot to the feature; it’s more about modernizing the video sharing capability – especially in light of Google Duo’s fancy live preview ability. Now, when you’re chatting away and suddenly want to display something, there’ll be a video icon on the top right corner that will instantly pop up a real-time feed from your camera. This is as opposed to the old way of pinging the request to do a video call, and the other party having to accept before seeing anything. You can now quickly show something you’re seeing while out and about.

Instant Video is meant to supplement the text conversation, so the feed will float on the top right corner so that you can keep the chat going. Audio won’t be enabled by default; the recipient can toggle it with just a tap. Messenger doesn’t toss the good old fashioned video one-on-one, if your buddy wants to partake in the video action.

Of course, both parties will have to have the latest version of Facebook Messenger installed, so look out for the update that is rolling out. What do you think about Instant Video? Are you glad to see the live preview capability come to Messenger, and do you like how Facebook implemented it?