Facebook updates with live video for iPhone users

And in December, it started to test video streaming with ordinary users, with the eventual goal to make it available to everyone.

You will be able to see the number of live viewers as well as read real-time comments during the broadcast.

Facebook will notify the friends that are allowed to view this video that you are broadcasting, so you don’t have to tell your friends to watch you. But the big blue network says that it will be rolling it out to the rest of its 1.6 billion users in the next few weeks. The widely-used social media app officially opened up its live streaming feature, which was made available previous year only to exclusive VIP accounts, to everyone who has an iPhone.

At the end of the broadcast, the clip will be automatically saved, winding up in the user’s Facebook Timeline.

So what’s the difference between Facebook and Periscope?

Since last August, Facebook has been testing Live with Pages including “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, U2, The White House, and Real Madrid.

To share video, users only have to update their status and touch the “Live Video” icon.

Facebook’s live video push pairs with its broader ambitions to rival YouTube and others in the digital video realm. Twitter recently integrated Periscope streams into the main app, bringing live video streaming front-and-centre for the social network.

Before launching the broadcast, one can compose a short description to accompany the video, and select which members of the friend list will have access to the live stream. It’s on this same screen that you choose your privacy setting: Are you sharing this with the public, or just your friends?

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