Facebook now lets you broadcast live directly from Messenger Rooms – making it easy to go live with up to 50 people at a time.
As more and more people are turning to Facebook Live to stay connected or to connect with their audiences, Live broadcasts have doubled in the last year. Facebook says this increase is “largely attributed to broadcasts since March 2020” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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To help more people go live, Facebook last week introduced the ability to easily turn Messenger Rooms calls into Facebook Live broadcasts. Turning your Messenger Rooms into a Facebook Live broadcast is simple, and lets you quickly go live with up to 50 people, “whether you’re hosting a book club with friends, interviewing a panel of experts, teaching a fitness class, or broadcasting with your friends for fun.”
All you have to do is create a room from Facebook or Messenger web, and invite the people you want to join it – even if they don’t have a Facebook account. Then, as a room creator, you can broadcast your room to a Profile, Page, or Group. When doing this, you are also able to invite other people to tune in and watch.
The room creator gets to control the live broadcast – like where it’s shared on Facebook, who can view it, and who is invited to participate in it. All participants in the room receive a notification inviting them to join the live broadcast, and they will have to opt in to participate. Participants who do not want to be on the live broadcast can also choose to leave the room before it goes live, or at any time during.
The room creator is also able to add or remove participants from the live broadcast at any time or lock and unlock a room during the live broadcast.
For safety reasons, when a room creator chooses to take the Room live, the broadcast is shared on Facebook. People outside the room may see what’s happening in the room (depending on the audience and where the room is shared on Facebook).
Facebook says that it may “collect and review audio and video from the broadcast” to make sure it follows the platform’s Community Standards.
The new feature is rolling out in some countries for the time being – on Facebook and Messenger web – and Facebook says it will soon expand to all countries where Messenger Rooms is available, as well as to the Facebook and Messenger mobile app and Messenger desktop app.