Facebook has recently expanded its "Live Video" service which enables real-time video streaming for all its users. This service will be available for those living in the United States.
It is integrated into the app and is located near the options and allows the adding of videos, photos, people, or inserting an emotion on a status. If the app is pressed, the video stream goes live which then alerts friends and who can choose to watch, like or make comments.
While the user is video streaming his activities, the app will indicate the numbers of live viewers, their names, and what they are saying in real-time. At the end of the live stream, the broadcast will be saved in the user's timeline, just like all videos. He can then choose to delete or save the broadcast if he wants his friends to view it later.
The service also includes News Feed, which streams live videos from friends or public figures that the user follows. He can also tap the Subscription button while viewing a live video if he wants to be notified when the next broadcast goes live.
By the looks of it, this video service is somewhat similar to Twitter's Periscope. Twitter has acquired this service for approximately $50 million in 2015. It has just incorporated this service into the main app which puts streaming of live video as its main focus.
In latter part of 2015, there are about 10 million users of Periscope. With its integration into Twitter, together with a heavy concentration on the service, perhaps that number will be pushed higher.
But Facebook is used to launching apps and then shutting them down several months later. For instance, the social media giant released Paper, a new form of news reading in February 2014. But now, this app lays dormant and has not been updated since March 2015.
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