Facebook is beefing up its Live video service in a big way.
The social network on Wednesday began rolling out a number of new features for the service, including the ability to go live in Facebook groups and events, add filters to your stream, and post varied reactions as a viewer. The new features will be rolling out on iOS and Android "over the coming weeks," so if you don't see them right away just sit tight.
Mark Zuckerberg and Co. are also making it a lot easier to search for and discover Live streams from your mobile device and the desktop.
The company has released a Live map on the desktop, which "gives you a window into what's happening in the world right now." The new #24Live hub, which is similar to the map you'll find in the Periscope app, features the best Facebook Live videos over the past 24 hours. Facebook is also adding a dedicated Live video section to its app where you can browse and search for streams.
Meanwhile, viewers will soon be able to express their feelings about their stream using the same set of reactions Facebook recently launched in News Feed: love, haha, wow, sad, or angry. The reactions will appear in real time on the top of the video and disappear quickly, so broadcasters can get an immediate sense of how viewers are feeling during a stream.
"It's like hearing the crowd applaud and cheer," Facebook Product Management Director Fidji Simo wrote in a blog post. As a viewer, you'll also soon be able to send an invitation to a friend to watch with you right from the Live video.
Broadcasters also have more options, including the ability to jazz up their streams with five new filters. Facebook said you'll also soon be able to draw and doodle on your video while live.
If you're looking for a tech-related Facebook Live stream, be sure to watch PCMag's Random Access, live from our labs each morning at 10 a.m. ET., where we discuss the top news of the day and show off the latest gadgets (today's episode embedded below). For the mobile fans, meanwhile, check out Dialed In every Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, where we show you the newest phones our analysts are testing.
Random Access: LG G5, WhatsApp, PS4 Remote Play, Huawei P9
Posted by PCMag on Wednesday, April 6, 2016