Facebook Goes Live

Allison Howen
by Allison Howen 04 Dec, 2015

Facebook is rolling out a new feature that enables users to share live video on the social network.

The feature, dubbed Live, aims to help users bring their friends and family into real-time experiences. To share live video, users need to tap on Update Status and then select the Live Video icon. Users can write a quick description for their videos and choose the audience they would like to share the video with before going live. Then, users can see the number of live viewers, the names of friends who are tuning in and a real-time stream of comments during the broadcast. Plus, the broadcast is saved to the user's timeline after it has ended.

Users can discover live videos from their friends and people they follow in the News Feed. Moreover, they can tap the subscribe button when watching a live video to get notifications for future broadcasts. That said, Live is currently only available to a small percentage of people in the US who use iPhones.

In addition to Live, Facebook unveiled a collage feature. This feature enables users to group photos and videos that were taken together into a scrolling, moving collage. To leverage the feature users must tap to upload a photo and they will see recent moments from their camera toll organized into collages based on when and where they were took. Users can then edit their collage by adding, removing or re-arranging the photos and videos that are included. The collage can then be titled and shared. This feature is currently being rolled out to iPhones and will be available on Android early next year.

Lastly, Facebook notes that it is testing a new sharing feature that showcases a dropdown menu to users that tap the "What's on your mind?" option. The menu includes different ways users can share status updates, such as write, photo/video, check-in, feeling and live video. Plus, new sharing options will be added in the future.