Facebooks adds live video support for VIP members

Aug 6, 2015 12:06 GMT  ·  By

Facebook has announced a new feature that will allow verified accounts of athletes, musicians, politicians, and media personalities to live stream video content.

This new feature will be available via Facebook Mentions, a new iOS app the company launched a month ago, being dedicated to public figures only.

According to the Facebook press release, Facebook Live, as the new feature is named, will allow these recordings to hang around indefinitely.

Facebook live broadcasts can be optionally turned into Facebook videos

This is different from Meerkat, where broadcasts are deleted as soon as they end, or Periscope, where they hang around for 24 more hours before disappearing in a black hole.

There is no official word on whether this feature will ever be available to regular users or if it will remain only as an offering for the Facebook Mentions app.

Facebook Live not only allows celebrities to endlessly promote their past live broadcasts but it also benefits both users, who can rewatch broadcasts whenever they want, and Facebook, which can now show more ads while the videos are being replayed.

You'll get a notification whenever a celebrity starts a live session

Live broadcasts will be shown on the user's timeline whenever they happen, but notifications are also automatically enabled for users who have recently interacted with that particular celebrity's Facebook page.

As an example, I won't be getting notifications whenever Paul McCartney starts a live stream because I visited (interacted with) his page a long, long, long time ago, but I will surely be spammed by Kim Kardashian alerts because I can't take my eyes off that trainwreck for some particular reason.

Unfortunately, this new feature doesn't mean you'll be getting high-quality content, Facebook Live being just another method of being spammed by the various products and services the celebrities endorse.

Here's a former broadcast by Lindsey Vonn, now available as a regular Facebook video.