What used to exclusively be reserved for celebrities, large corporations and official institutions, is now accessible to almost every single one, who has a facebook account.
A live stream can now be started using a smart phone, regardless of where one is: whether on holiday, at a congress or at a wedding ceremony. You still think it’s “in” to post your selfies on social networks? We predict that your timeline will be filled with “selvios” in the near future. This service, is however, only available for iphone and ipad users at the moment. (Android users still have to wait a while longer.) Users are required to download the facebook app (iOS 50 or iOS Page Manager Vers. 42) in order to realize this feature.
For the time being, only the native cameras on smartphones or tablets allow for live broadcasting on facebook. External sources such as vision mixer or other cameras, can as of the moment not yet be integrated. The only exception was the Townhall Meeting by facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, which was realized by means of several cameras and video mixing. If this were to be activated for every individual facebook user as well, enormous opportunities would be made available, with competitors such as Twitter’s Periscope being really worried about such competition. In addition, traditional TV stations would be faced with new challenges attracting younger viewers, would however, offer lots of options for them.
The advantage that facebook poses over its rivals, is the push notifications in its news feeds. As soon as a live stream starts, the “fan community” will immediately be informed about it. As a result, live streams have the potential to attract a large number of viewers within a few minutes. Daimler AG for example, streamed its Truck Platooning Tour live, in which MAN, Scania and Daimler trucks, ran in a platoon to Rotterdam, from different cities. After approx. 4 hours, Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles gained 338,000 viewers for their live stream, something which most traditional live streams can only dream of.
It will definitely be worth observing, how the topic “facebook and live stream” develops. Though this may be a good way to communicate faster and with ease, not everything is worthy of broadcast. Streaming without any limits, would soon make the service lose its effect. We are already looking forward to our first facebook live stream on whats live?
(VH)