What Happened
Nearly two months after Facebook started rolling out its live-streaming feature Live Video to non-celebrity users, the social network now declares that the feature is available to all U.S. users with iPhones. Android users and international markets will receive the self-broadcasting tool in coming weeks. Facebook introduced the feature in August last year to certified celebrity Pages exclusively at first, five months after live-streaming app Meerkat broke out at the SXSW festival last March.
What Brands Need To Do
Compared to Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope, Facebook may be late in its entry. But its vast user base (1.59 billion and growing, per Facebook’s latest quarterly report) should give this new feature a competitive edge over the two aforementioned early movers in mobile live streaming. The option to save a live broadcast to a timeline should come in handy for brands seeking to create video content straight from their live events. Overall, this new feature will provide brands with a new channel to connect with fans in real time, as well as opportunities for sponsoring social influencers or broadcasting branded events.
Source: Wired
Header image courtesy of Facebook Newsroom