Facebook has begun rolling out a new feature on its social network which allows users to stream live video. A select group of celebrities and high profile users have been able to use the service for several months.
Initially Facebook’s live video feature will be available only to a small percentage of people in the US and will be limited to iPhones. But “over time, the company plans to bring it to all users” but it did not give any specific date.
In a post introducing the service, Facebook said:
Live (the name of the feature) lets you show the people you care about what you are seeing in real time – whether visiting a new place, cooking your favourite recipe, or just wanting to share some thoughts.
The stream will display the number of live viewers, the names of friends who are watching, and real-time comments as they are written. The video will be saved to users’ timelines until they choose to delete them.
Facebook has also updated the way people can share photo – allowing users to mix photos and videos. But Facebook has promised to be pay attention to privacy concerns, and intends to put some measure of restrictions on how the content can be shared, so that it won’t be automatically broadcast to everyone.
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