Facebook is without a doubt presenting a series of updates to its users, the latest being a live broadcasting option on Android. The famous tech company has recently introduced new options for people to show their feelings with regard to a status on Facebook, except for the like button, and now it seems that the social network has more surprises for its fans.
So, Facebook revealed that it will roll out live broadcasting on Android in a few days, in the US. Of course, the feature is not completely new. In fact, it has been accessible to Facebook users on iOS for quite some time. But, now, it will be expanded to Android users, who will also be able to share live video on Facebook.
The world's largest social network is testing a new feature that will enable its 1.5 billion users to use their smartphones using Android to shoot video so other people can see what they are doing in real time
How to share a live video via Facebook Live for Android
- Tap “What’s on your mind?” at the top of your News Feed in your Facebook app.
- Tap the Live Video icon (person icon with a broadcast signal around the head).
- Write a description for your video (optional).
- Choose an audience for your video, Public, Friends etc.
- Tap Go Live and start your live broadcast.
- When you are done with your broadcast, tap Finish.
- Note: the maximum time limit for a Facebook Live video is 30 minutes.
Initially, only users in the US will be able to enjoy this possibility, but Facebook claimed that support for Android users in more countries will also be coming soon. It seems that Facebook's interest in expanding this option has been influenced by its popularity among users.
"We know that people on Android love interacting with live videos—more than 50 percent of people watching live videos are using Android devices," a blog post from Facebook's product and engineering managers said.
Furthermore, their post explained that Facebook's interest in expanding the use of this feature might also be connected with its purpose of making people stay more on the social network.
So, the two Facebook managers said that people tend to watch more broadcasts that are live, compared to the ones that have been archived.
"We'll continue to roll this out to more people as well as Pages in countries around the world in the coming weeks," the two confirmed in their blog post.
Well, the fact is that the feature that Facebook has put at the disposal of its fans is quite interesting. It allows users to see the number of live viewers as they are broadcasting, as well as the names of their friends who are watching and their comments.
Furthermore, Facebook allows users to save their broadcast on their Timeline, for friends to be able to watch it any time. Also if you are using Facebook to advertise your online brand, Facebook Live is also available for verified pages
However, this does not mean that a video once created will always stay on Facebook. So, those who don’t want to post it, will be able to delete the video.
Moreover, users who like watching such broadcasted videos from a person they are following will able to press the Subscribe button to receive notifications each time when that person starts broadcasting again.
The feature was first presented by Facebook in the summer of 2015. Initially, it was exclusive to a limited number of accounts, but soon Facebook released it for all iOS users in the United States. Given that people enjoyed it, Facebook announced that the feature became accessible to iPhone users in more than 30 countries.
Luckily, soon enough Android users will be able to share live video on Facebook, as well. The timeline for the release was not revealed by Facebook, at this point.
