Now that Facebook's Live Video feature is available to all users, it seems that just about every one of our family members and friends are joining in with our favorite celebrities to host their own livestream video sessions. However, it might feel like we've been hit with a little déjà vu, because we are suddenly taken back to the days when our notifications would go off nonstop with invites to play Candy Crush.
Facebook Live Video allows users to subscribe to receive notifications when the celebrity, brand or account they follow is about to go live. While it's a helpful option so that we never miss another Ricky Gervais bubble bath again, users are quickly learning that most of their notifications are about different Facebook accounts about to go live, that just went live or that just shared a live video to its Timeline. We get it, Facebook, it's a cool feature. Now, make the notifications stop.
Luckily, Facebook is listening to us, and will soon allow users to turn off notifications for Live Video. The company is currently testing the new option to block these types of notifications and is expected to start rolling it out in the "next few weeks."
For now, if you can't take the disappointment that the notification is not a new profile picture like, then users can unsubscribe to the video posts. This is done by click on the same "Live Subscribe" button on top of the video. However, this will only turn off notifications from that specific page and not the other pages the user previously subscribed to for Live Video.
"We know people want more control over the live notifications they receive, so we're working on improving this experience," a Facebook spokesperson told Engadget. "We are starting to roll out a new setting that lets people turn off all live notifications, through their Notifications settings, that will be available to all people soon."
While this may not be the best news for brands and pages trying to get their videos seen, they can rest assured that Facebook is looking out for them as well. Last week, the company announced that it will make tweaks to its News Feed algorithm so that Live Videos will appear higher compared with traditional videos.
Source: Digiday
