Systems and methods for establishing a virtual shared experience for media playback

A method for establishing a virtual shared connection, the method comprising:

• receiving an invitation from a first device associated with a first media consumer, the invitation associated with a media file;
• sending the invitation to a second device associated with a second media consumer;
• in response to sending the invitation, receiving an acceptance;
• in response to receiving the acceptance, causing synchronous playback of content from the media file to the first device and the second device such that the playback is synchronized on first device and the second device;
• during synchronous playback, reaching a trigger in the media file;
• upon reaching the trigger, accessing a consumer provided content file identified by the trigger, wherein the consumer provided content is generated by a third media consumer that previously consumed the content of the media file;
• simultaneously causing display of consumer provided content of the consumer provided content file on the first and second devices;
• receiving a user communication from the first device;
• and
• causing, during synchronous playback, the user communication to be displayed on the second user device and not the first user device.