Virtual YouTube parties get social on Google+

Google is adding yet another feature to its group video chat service on Google+: social YouTube parties. Google+ users can now try and outdo their friends with their selection of awesome videos during an online video chat aka Hangouts.

Google is adding yet another feature to its group video chat service on Google+: social "YouTube parties."

Google+ users can now try and outdo their friends with their selection of awesome videos during an online video chat aka "Hangouts."

"Create, control, save and even share playlists of videos with your friends -- all inside a Hangout. Just start a Hangout, have everyone load the YouTube app at the top of the screen, and start adding videos. It's like your own VIP table at the world's coolest YouTube party," said Google software engineer Ullas Gargi in a post announcing YouTube parties on Google+.

Everyone participating in the Hangout can drag and drop videos into the YouTube app or re-arrange the selection. The playlist can also be saved for later viewing or shared privately or publicly on Google+.

TechCrunch reports that Facebook has started testing a "Call" button next to friends' names on the desktop version of their profile page.

Facebook hopes the button will encourage users to make video calls via Facebook using VoIP video conferencing service Skype - a Microsoft-owned service Facebook first partnered with back in 2011 -- instead of turning to Google's Hangouts or brand new web-based video calling startup Airtime.

The YouTube app within Hangouts is available now globally in 60 different languages.