Facebook announces several new Live Video features for Facebook and Instagram

Along with the announcement about new Messenger Rooms, Facebook yesterday announced several new Live Video features for Facebook, Instagram, and Portal. Due to the Coronavirus situation around the world, more and more people are now using Facebook Live and Instagram Live for workout classes, cooking lessons, and more. To help these millions of people, Facebook announced the following new features.

On Facebook…

• Facebook is bringing back Live With so you can add another person into your live video, no matter where they are in the world. Bring on a guest speaker, interview an expert or perform with a friend.
• You’ll be able to mark Facebook Events as online only and, in the coming weeks, integrate Facebook Live so you can broadcast to your guests. To support creators and small businesses, we plan to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook – anything from online performances to classes to professional conferences.
• To help you raise money for causes, you can now add the donate button to live videos wherever nonprofit fundraisers are available.
• Facebook is making it easier to access live video so you can watch or listen anywhere. If you have limited data or a spotty connection, you now have the option to listen to the audio only. If you don’t have a Facebook account, most public live videos are now available on the web and some Pages can share a toll-free number that lets you listen to the audio through any telephone.
• You can livestream games from your phone to Facebook using the new Facebook Gaming app available on Google Play. The app also lets you play games instantly, watch your favorite streamers and discover new gaming groups. Tournaments are another new feature for game streaming that lets you create, play and watch the competition in one spot. Tournaments are available on Facebook today, and coming to the Facebook Gaming app soon.
• To help you support some of your favorite creators, Facebook is expanding Stars to more Pages and more countries. Once you buy Stars you can send them to creators while they’re streaming, and they’ll earn 1 cent for every Star.

On Instagram…

• You can now watch and comment on live videos from your desktop. Follow along with that yoga class on a bigger screen or listen to a live performance as you work.
• After you go live, you’ll soon be able to save your videos to IGTV so they stick around longer than the 24-hour limit in Stories and are easier for others to find.

On Portal…

• You’ll soon be able to go live from Portal to Facebook Pages and Groups. The Facebook Live app on Portal already lets you broadcast to your profile, but later this month you’ll be able to share with your communities, too. Whether you’re sharing a make-up or baking tutorial or hosting a more intimate conversation, Portal’s AI-powered Smart Camera can be your personal cinematographer, keeping you perfectly framed, so you can stay present in the moment.

You can learn more about Facebook Messenger Rooms here.

Source: Facebook