Marketing 2 min read

Facebook Shifts Focus Toward Live Streaming as Demand Rises

Cosmin Sava / Shutterstock.com

Cosmin Sava / Shutterstock.com

Facebook is now focusing on live streaming as the social media platform usage surges during the current COVID-19 lockdown.

Speaking to Bloomberg, head of the Facebook app, Fidji Simo confirmed the surge in traffic for Facebook Live. She further stated that the social media company has had to adjust quickly and reshape its road map.

According to Bloomberg, the number of U.S. users watching live video on Facebook has increased by a whopping 50 percent since January.

As you may have guessed, the growth is due to the current COVID-19 lockdown.

People around the world are at home to curb the novel coronavirus from spreading. Along with other video streaming platforms, these people rely on Facebook Live for entertainment.

In response to the increased usage, Facebook is accelerating the development of new features for Facebook Live.

New Features for Live Streaming on Facebook

Aside from making live streaming more accessible to viewers, Facebook wants to enable broadcasters to make more money from their videos. With this in mind, the social media giant is rolling out the following features.

  • Watch Facebook Live videos without a Facebook Account
  • Expansion of digital tipping capabilities to more streamers
  • Automatic closed captioning
  • Toll-free phone numbers for charity streams to take live callers

Aside from these features, Facebook is also set to release a new dashboard for managing live broadcasts.

The new tool — called Live Producer — will enable page managers to have better control of their live broadcasts. For example, it offers functions like Source Details and Stream Health as well as interactive features like Polls.

Expectedly, focusing on live streaming alone pulls attention away from other projects.

Reports suggest that Facebook has paused work on other products such as those that encourage in-person gatherings. Also, the social media platform now shows fewer event reminders to people.

Facebook Marketplace is not essential right now. Considering the pandemic, it’s probably not a good idea to meet up with strangers to exchange physical goods.

In other words, Facebook Live is the highest priority right now. And the tech giant is set to roll out the new features in the coming weeks.

Read More: How Facebook is Using AI to Identify Fake Accounts

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