Facebook, which is already widely used as a platform for distributing live video, is making a play of its own with a new app called Facebook Live.However, unlike services like Ustream and Livestream that offer live video features for Facebook Pages, Facebook Live is more of a channel dedicated to the happenings of the social networking company as opposed to a platform for others.
In a statement, the company says it will be using Facebook Live “to be your window into what’s new at Facebook,” including celebrity guests that stop by the company’s HQ, demos of new features from employees and special events taking place (conceivably, things like the f8 conference).
The app itself looks a lot like other live video platforms, with integrated chat that broadcasts out to the News Feed. It’s also embeddable, and the company will be testing it out when actress America Ferrera stops by at 6 p.m. ET this evening.
It will be interesting to see how Facebook goes about promoting the feature. Might we see notifications in the News Feed when a big guest stops by the company’s HQ? That would give the site an opportunity to aggregate some huge audiences around live video, though it remains to be seen if that’s in the cards or if this is more of a PR move to make the company feel more personable.
Either way, it’s a nice boon for Livestream, which has been chosen as the official live video partner for the project.
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