Facebook Video has really taken off over the past year, with many brands hopping on board and new features, like “floating,” making it more accessible to users. Now it’s expanding even further, with the introduction of key new features.
A new update is now available for both its iOS and Android apps, which adds a new dedicated video tab that highlights popular livestreams and gives users an easier time when looking up videos.
The livestreaming feature is getting a huge upgrade, which gives users the ability to go live in Facebook Groups and Events. This includes sharing an update video with members of a charity group, or news on a forthcoming film for fans. Events will also enable the scheduling of livestreams, including Q&A sessions, presentations and more.
The company has also introduced Live Reactions, which enable users to express their feelings about an event in real-time during a broadcast using Likes and reaction icons from the News Feed. Live filters are also included in the update, so broadcasters can customize their video with a variety of settings.
“Live video on Facebook is truly interactive as broadcasters engage with their commenters and respond to their suggestions and questions,” wrote Fidji Simo, Facebook’s product management director. “In fact, from initial data, we’ve seen that people comment more than ten times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos. We want people watching the broadcast after the fact to feel ‘in’ on the action. To achieve this, we will replay comments as they happened during the live broadcast when people watch it later.”
Other social features are also being rolled out, including the option to invite a friend to watch videos with you; creating a dedicated place on the Facebook app to find video based on trends and friend suggestions; and a Facebook Live Map for desktop, which allows broadcasts to be found based on location.
In addition, content creators will also be able to track new metrics based on these features. “We know that understanding live viewership is important to publishers and creators, so today we’re also rolling out two new video metrics: total live viewers during a broadcast, and a new chart showing the number of concurrent live viewers over time during a broadcast,” Simo states in the blog post. “These new metrics follow the updates we announced last month that give page owners a better understanding of when people are watching their videos.”
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Join the Q&A with Chris Cox about Facebook Live.
Posted by Facebook on Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Facebook also posted a video with chief product officer Chris Cox, who explains how beneficial these new features will be to users.
When it comes to remaining a fierce competitor to YouTube, Facebook certainly isn’t kidding around.
