A month after beginning to test live-streaming video from its flagship app, Facebook is now rolling the feature out to all users in the United States. The feature, which only works on iPhone for now, is accessible from a redesigned status menu. You can tap “live video” to enable the feature, which shows you a preview of what your phone’s front camera is seeing. Tap “Go Live” and your broadcast will be visible in the News Feed.

The broadcaster can see how many people are watching, their names, and their comments. When the broadcast is over, it’s saved to your timeline by default. You can delete it if you want. If you see a broadcast in News Feed from someone you want to follow, you can subscribe to their broadcasts so you get a notification every time they go live.

As we wrote last month: “The move reflects both Facebook’s total embrace of video and its eagerness to capture more of the real-time content that drives so much global conversation, most notably on Twitter. Live video is a move somewhat at odds with Facebook’s algorithmic News Feed, which sorts the hundreds or thousands of posts your friends have shared based on the likelihood you will engage with them.” But Facebook’s real-time ambitions are growing. For apps like Periscope and Meerkat, Facebook live-streaming is a competitor to take seriously.

By Casey Newton, January 28, 2016
Article courtesy: theverge.com
Image courtesy: facebook.com