Facebook understands the importance of video on its platform, particularly live video. Facebook Live has proved to be an incredibly popular component of the social network and now the company is introducing new ways to connect with friends through the service.
Facebook understands the importance of video on its platform, particularly live video. Facebook Live has proved to be an incredibly popular component of the social network and now the company is introducing new ways to connect with friends through the service.
Known as Live Chat With Friends, the new feature makes it possible to chat privately with friends during live broadcasts. The company is also rolling out another new feature called Live With. This «lets you invite a friend into your live video so you can hang out together, even if you’ re not in the same place.»
Live Chat With Friends seems like a very natural expansion to Facebook Live. While it can be useful to be able to interact with an entire audience of Facebook users watching the same live stream, there are times when it makes more sense to limit a conversation to a group of friends — and this is exactly what Facebook is enabling.
Facebook says that the feature is being tested on mobile platforms in multiple countries at the moment, and will enjoy a wider rollout in the summer.
The Live With feature works much like the celebrity-only feature that was available last year. Now Facebook is allowing anyone with a profile or page — providing they are an iOS user — to invite friends into their live videos, picture-in-picture style. Facebook explains:
