Facebook is working toward making the social networking site the go-to destination for viewing videos. In a bid to realize this goal, Facebook has now introduced nonstop live streaming.
Currently, the Facebook Live feature lets users broadcast whatever they espy via their smartphone for a maximum of 90 minutes. However, with the arrival of the "continuous live video" API, users will soon be able to stream for as long as they wish!
The news comes courtesy of a TechCrunch report, which cites a Facebook representative as its source of information. The publication reveals that the rep has disclosed that Facebook is presently running some tests for the continuous live streaming and will possibly make the feature available broadly in the next couple of weeks.
The nonstop streaming is apparently 24 hours a day and is already being tested by Explore.org with live puppycams. The only downer of the continuous live video is that a user will not be able to save or post these streams like they can with Facebook Live videos for watching later. Why? As the strain on the server would work out too be too expensive for Facebook to sustain.
The continuous live video streaming is not the only new feature that will benefit Facebook Live. According to the publication, the Facebook Live videos will also reflect an "engagement graph" in the near term. This graph will basically highlight the part of the live video that has maximum user engagement.
Thanks to the engagement graph, users will know which portion has the best stuff and can instead watch only that bit instead of the whole video.
"The engagement graph is designed to help people easily navigate a video that was live — especially longer ones — to find the moments that drew the most engagement," revealed Fidji Simo, Facebook's head of video.
The engagement graph is currently being pushed out to select users. Facebook's rep also let on that it has begun showing the Live video reaction replays. These can be seen on the broadcast's recorded version. The viewing of the reactions basically makes a user feel as if they are watching the video in real time. The reactions such as Angry, Haha, Like, etc. will be visible on the video as overlays, including the images of friends who left these reactions.
It will be interesting to see if the introduction of the new features in the near future will help Facebook establish its place further as a platform for watching videos.
