Facebook announced on Feb. 26 that Facebook Live is rolling out on Android devices as well as expanding its reach. On March 1, it tweaked its algorithms to get live stream videos higher up in people's timeline.
Now the social media site is aiming to promote its live streaming service with the help of celebrities and it is willing to cough up actual money to sweeten the deal.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has apparently been seen discussing the company's plans with talent agencies. Sandberg's current goal is to recruit a small group of talents who can use the platform regularly and pay them for it.
But don't expect Hollywood's biggest names to suddenly flood your timeline with live streamed videos because the company is actually aiming for comedians and up-and-coming artists to use the platform.
"Live is a really new format on Facebook and we're just starting to understand its potential. To that end, we're testing different ways to support partners so they begin experimenting with Facebook Live [...] and explore with them potential monetization models," a Facebook representative confirmed.
In short, we may just see ads in Live streamed videos in the future to determine if revenue from ads -- just like how YouTube's creators earn from their original content -- are acceptable for users.
If you are wondering why Facebook suddenly turned its attention to YouTube-like services, it is because its Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, wants to focus on it, and naturally the company would follow suit.
Of course, its first step it to tighten its live stream rankings in order to make sure people actually watch them.
"[We] are learning what signals help us show you the most relevant Facebook Live videos for you personally [...] we are making a small update to News Feed so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live," Facebook Product Manager Vibhi Kant and Software Engineer Jie Xu explained.
