Facebook introduced its newest
feature that allows users to broadcast their own live video on the social media
app last Thursday.
iPhone users living in the
United States can now access this feature through the application. Meanwhile,
the function will be available for Android customers as well as the rest of the
world "over the coming weeks," as reported by The Wall Street
Journal.
This move by Facebook is
meant to rival Periscope, which is owned by Twitter, after it allowed GoPro
owners to livestream using their device.
The simple instruction on
how to turn on the livestream was explained by the product manager Vadim
Lavrusik in a Facebook Newsroom blog post.
A user wanting to
broadcast live video just has to tap the Updates Status much like when one
wants to post a text or an image. There is a new Live Video icon that allows
sharing of live video.
This feature also allows
the user-host to choose the audience he wants the video to be visible with and
a count of the live viewers along with the names of friends who are currently
watching will be seen by the user. Just like how live video works in YouTube,
the comments as explained in the blog will also be streamed in real-time.
The user can either delete
the video after the broadcast or save it for future use or let others watch it
later. A Subscribe button for a favorite broadcaster is also made available in
the feature.
The Live Video Feature is
especially useful for public figures like politicians in a campaign or for
music streams by live bands.
"Video is an
important part of the Facebook experience," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
said during its quarterly call on Wednesday. He also said the company is
"exploring" a dedicated place within Facebook just to watch video, as
written in Time News.
The Facebook user base currently registers
934 million worldwide and more than 100 million hours of video are watched every
single day in the platform.
0 comments:
Post a Comment