These days, many of us are trying out new ways of staying connected with. Even though we’re stationery these days, mobile convenience is hard to pass up. Also, we might be quarantined, but we may not be quarantined with bae, and sometimes you just want to see someone’s face.

Each week, I’ll share a new way for you to stay connected with your friends and family. On this Good Friday, I present to you, Marco Polo, a video instant messaging platform that was shared with me by someone I was once close with.

There’s been a lot of talk and hype about virtual happy hours, DnD campaigns, and dinners. I’ve even written about them, myself. Unfortunately, this new push for virtual group communication has made some of people anxious and uncomfortable. Many introverts feel as if they’ve lost the ability to disappear from events, because everyone knows, “your ass is at home.” So this week, we showcase an app geared towards smaller, visual communications.

Marco Polo does a fantastic job of blending video with short communications. The premise is simple, invite your friends, form one-on-one or group channels, and send video messages to them. Your friends receive notifications when video messages are waiting for them, or you can video “chat” back-and-forth in real time if you’re both online and in the channel. You can send emojis in response to watch you see and hear and can even respond with short video segments of your own.

You can access older Marcos (are they Marcos?) in the app if you want to, “go back to the tape,” or rewatch those live nudes and performances bae sent you. Yes, that’s right, the app is often used when you want to send that special someone, a little sumthin’ sumthin’ while you’re remote. And it does this very well.

Is Marco Polo Safe?

Honestly, I can’t tell you. MP is one of those uber promiscuous apps that uses your phone’s contact list to discover who’s on the network and who you can connect with. You can always invite your friends using text messaging as well. Videos are stored on an app server for download and playback, and their privacy policy is murky. So, you may want to use your own judgment on how you want to use the app. This app is one of those created by regular people for a meaningful reason. It gives me a warm fuzzy.

If you’re looking for an application that gets you connected with your friends and family, but don’t want the constant call behavior of FaceTime; or, you’re looking for a better way of sharing video than iMessage, give Marco Polo a try. It’s free.

We’re all doing our best to make it through quarantine with our jobs, sanity, and humanity intact. While we pray for and keep are friends and family on the front lines in our thoughts, it’s always important to keep the little things that make life worth living going. Stay healthy out there, and do the things that are most important for you.