Facebook Launches Improved “Live” With Snapchat-like Features

Facebook Live has only been around for a few months in most countries, but it’s already a big success. Today, while releasing the feature to everyone across the globe, Facebook has also launched a bunch of new exciting features that will allow us to make the most of the live experience.

Whether it is about watching with friends, sharing with closed groups of people, or making live videos a bit more fun, Facebook has thought of it all.

The new and improved Facebook Live comes comes with live reactions, live filters, a discover tab, and the ability to watch with friends. Does this remind you of anything? A good mix of Snapchat, Meerkat and Periscope perhaps?

Live For Groups And Events

This is one of the big improvements to Facebook Live: the possibility to go live in Facebook Groups and Facebook Events.

This is massive, partly because these are the places where you really want to go live. In Groups, it allows you to control who you are broadcasting Live to: it could be your family Group, or your business Group, in any case, it will bring the privacy that can be missing from your profile.

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Live in Facebook Events is obviously a big deal for everyone, but especially for brands which are making great use of Event Pages on Facebook. Plus, it allows you to offer something special only to the people who have accepted your invite. Not to all your usual followers.

Live Reactions + Live Filters

Adding Reactions to Live broadcasting was an important step for Facebook, because it brings that much-needed level of interactivity. Live Reactions appear in real-time, and disappear quickly, so broadcasters and viewers both get a feeling of what people’s reactions are to what they are viewing.

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The funniest add-on to the new Facebook Live, has to be live filters. In full Snapchat fashion, you can now add one of five Live filters to your broadcast, and very soon, you will also be able to draw on your video – live. Do you hear that Snapchat?

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Watch With Friends

So you have found the funniest live video on Facebook… what you need know is how to bring in your best friends to have a lot of fun watching together. Consider it done: the new Facebook Live comes with the option to send an invitation to a friend to watch with you, from where they are.

Your friend will receive a push notification inviting them to join you.

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Discover More With The Live Hub

Much inspired by its “rival” Periscope, Facebook Live now also has its Discover hub where you can find Live videos to watch. The hub offers a Facebook Live map to explore all public live broadcasts that are currently happening in more than 60 countries around the world.

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There is a lot to be done with live video, and it seems Facebook is betting heavily on it.

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