Facebook rolling out new live video features

Live video is still a new phenomenon compared to recorded video. But it is fast becoming the next battleground for social media platforms to draw in new customers and extend the time the current ones stay on.

Following the popularity of its video streaming initiative Facebook Live, Facebook is expanding live and 360-degree video broadcasts for its 1.6 billion users.

Director of Product, Fidji Simo, says, “We really believe that the future is going to be more immersive, and video is a big part of that.”

Rolling out over the next few weeks, Facebook will make it easier for users to make and watch videos on their mobile devices. Which means musicians can put on private concerts through the platform or hold live Q&A sessions.

For Facebook, it’s an effective way to extend the 100 million hours of video devoured each day on the platform.

It also promises to considerably widen revenue for Facebook, as it can charge more for video ads. To this effect, it is introducing a new metric analysing feature for publishers and media companies, that through charts and graphs, provides viewer statistics of broadcasts.

“We’ve been surprised and delighted with how people are using live video to connect and interact with each other all over the world,” Simo observed. “People are letting their friends discover their hobbies. Parents are using it to share moments with their kids with their extended families.

“Athletes are giving people a window into their training. Chefs are bringing their fans into their kitchen. Journalists are hosting global conversations on topics they care about. Aspiring musicians can now put on a live concert for their friends. Many people all over the world are using Facebook Live in many different ways to talk to and interact with the people that matter most to them.”

Facebook Live first rolled out to celebrities and public figures mid-2015 and expanded to iOS and Android users last December. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced he was a big fan of live video, as a “raw, emotional, visceral way to share and connect.

Facebook Live yesterday introduced a 24-hour live video event under the hash tag #24Live. It will air the best Facebook Live videos from around the world at live.fb.com/24Live.

Videos get their own man spot in the mobile app, replacing Messenger. Users can, once they’re in the live video library, choose topics they want to follow, and be alerted to when users are broadcast live video about these from around the world. Users can stream within private groups and invite others to watch the same video.

Interactive capabilities as live filters, live reactions (including the new emotive newsfeed icons “love, haha, wow, sad or angry”), the ability to replay comments and doodle on videos, is a way to turn live video into a more exciting experience.

More details are expected at Facebook’s annual conference for software developers next week in San Francisco.

Facebook is signing up publishers to provide regular live video content each month. Reports say the company is paying them cash upfront for a revenue share deal.

The rapid rise of video in social media – aided by the greater sophistication of smartphone cameras and the ease of video-streaming apps – has seen much interest in new video platforms.

Vine and Periscope, both acquired by rival Twitter, together attract 8 billion daily users and are credited for bringing live video streaming to the mainstream. Periscope, which already has many of the features that Facebook is introducing, says it streamed over 200 million live broadcasts in the past 12 months.

Meerkat, launched last February, had within six months reached 2 million users, 20% of whom consume it on a daily basis. The five-year-old Snapchat, which Facebook reported tried to buy in late 2013 for $3 billion, has 100 million daily active users.

YouTube is said to be working on its own mobile live video app, YouTube Connect.