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The Streaming Wars heat up. Facebook Live is up and running

A couple of months ago, social media was buzzing about a certain Mark Zuckerberg photo which showed the Facebook CEO walking with a smile on his face through a room full of people with VR headsets on. The scene happened at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain.

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We weren’t creeped out because of the fast developments in virtual reality technology, or because of Zuckerberg’s face expression, but mostly because the picture woke up a terrifying feeling inside us planted by Sci-Fi movies.

The internet was filled with tweets the following days, most of which can explain our fears faster than words ever will. The thing is that what we see in that photo – the vegetative state where people get lost in the virtual world, that seems to be the place where all the roads are heading. Most of us already spend pretty much our entire day in front of some sort of a device, and over the years, Facebook played a huge role to encourage this addiction. With Facebook Live now launched for everyone, those people in that image might very well be logged in the social network throughout the day. It might sound absurd, but progress can be harmful, especially for the users who don’t have a sense of moderation.

Facebook Live enables you to use your phone to share a moment instantly with your friends, family or fans. You can respond to their comments and see their reactions live. This is where Facebook will probably win most ground in the streaming war with the other, better established competitors – at the comment section.

Since launching Facebook Live last summer to public figures through the Mentions app and more recently to everyone in the US through the iOS and Android apps, the users helped improve the experience.

“We’ve been surprised and delighted with how people are using live video to connect and interact with each other all over the world,” wrote Fidji Simo, Product Management Director. “People are letting their friends discover their hobbies. Parents are using it to share moments in their kids’ lives 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.”

This feedback led to the development of new features:

Live for Groups and Events

One of the major new features is the ability to go live in Facebook Groups and Facebook Events. Live in Groups allows you to broadcast to just the people in the Facebook Group – so you can go live in your family group, or share a workout plan in a fitness group. Live in Events means you can go live from a birthday party to allow those that can’t make it to join the fun, and a performer can go live backstage to the people who’ve RSVP-ed to the event to give them a sneak peak. You can even use Events to schedule a live Q&A session.

Interactive Features: Live Reactions, Replay Comments, Live Filters

Facebook Live is interactive and fun: Live reactions, replaying comments made while live and Live filters will make it even more so. Live Reactions makes it easy for your viewers to express their feelings in real time during a live broadcast. Using the same reactions launched in News Feed, viewers can select Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry, and the reactions animate right on top of the video. Live Reactions appear in real time and disappear quickly so broadcasters and other viewers can get a sense of how people are feeling at different points during the live video – it’s like hearing the crowd applaud and cheer. When your friend reacts to your video or to a video you are both watching together you’ll see their profile pic and a little starburst before their reaction appears.

“Live video on Facebook is truly interactive as broadcasters engage with their commenters and respond to their suggestions and questions,” wrote Fidji Simo. “In fact, from initial data, we’ve seen that people comment more than 10 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.”

Live Creative Tools iOS

People want more creative ways to personalize their live broadcasts – as expressed on other similar streaming tools. Facebook Live starts with a set of 5 filters, and the developers promise to add very soon the ability to draw or doodle on your video while live.

Live Invite Friends Android

Another new option is to send an invitation to a friend to watch with you right from the live video. Simply tap on the invite icon and select the friend you want to invite and they will receive a push notification with your invitation.

Video Home iOS

“People don’t want to miss out on great broadcasts that are live right now,” wrote the Product Management Director. “We’re starting to roll out a dedicated place on Facebook’s mobile app where you can discover live video that the world is talking about, live video from the friends and creators that matter most to you, and live video on topics you’re interested in. From that place, you can also search live and non-live videos, and choose to go live yourself. Simply tap on the new video icon in the app to navigate to this new space.”

Live Map

The final important addition is Facebook Live Map – a visual way to explore public live broadcasts that are currently happening around the world. Facebook Live Map gives you a window into what’s happening in the world right now, with more than 60 countries that are actually on the live-sharing-video map.

 

Bottom Line. Facebook has been in the news the whole week, and for good reason, it’s an important addition to the platform’s arsenal. Will it dominate the streaming world? Probably not. It’s nearly identical to Snapchat (filters, drawing tools, and so on) – which means millennials will continue to lose interest in Facebook, and the other competitors already have a firm hold on each streaming niche.