Facebook launches a live streaming app for celebrities

Live is only available for public figures, as a way for celebrities to better connect with fans

It was not a question of if, but when would Facebook launch its own live-streaming app? After Twitter bought Periscope, and Meerkat added in Facebook login, an acquisition seemed like the most obvious route for the company to go.

While that may still be in the cards, Facebook has instead decided to launch its own service, but one with a twist.

The company announced a new service called "Live" on Wednesday, a live streaming app for Facebook Mentions that is direct squarely at public figures. Unlike Meerkat and Periscope, which allow anyone to broadcast, Live is an app only for celebrities, to broadcast videos of themselves to their fans.

In every other way, the app works exactly like its competitors. All the celebs have to do is tap on Post and then tap on the Live Video button, add a description for the broadcast and tap the Go Live button when they are ready to record.

During your broadcast, they will see how many viewers they have and can respond to comments live. Comments can also be hidden. The broadcast ends when the Stop button is tapped, and the video is then automatically saved to the celebrity's Facebook Page for fans to view later. It can also be removed at any time.

Facebook already has live broadcasts upcoming from Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Serena Williams, Luke Bryan, Ricardo Kaká, Ashley Tisdale, Lester Holt, Martha Stewart, Michael Bublé and more.

This is an interesting development for a couple of reasons.

First, it does allow Facebook to control the content that is put out by its app, which has been a point of contention for other similar apps. During the fight between  big Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight in May, both Meerkat and the Twitter-owned Periscope were both accused of not doing enough to remove unauthorized streams of the match. Not that a celebrity won't do something similar, but it seems less likely than when 

What this move also does is allow Facebook to encroach on Twitter's territory a bit, and not only because it is directly competing with Periscope.

Twitter has always been the network that was better than Facebook at connecting celebrities and fans. Just from the very nature of the format, if a celebrity sent a out a tweet, other people could do more than just comment at them, they could reach out directly. And that famous person might just respond back. This has not always been a good thing (like the time Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay got into a nasty Twitter fight with a college kid) but it has created a closer relationship with celebrities and their fans.

It's possible that Live could do the same thing for Facebook. First, since the celebrity can prove that it is actually them filming, that allows it to feel special, as compared to a Facebook post that anyone could have written. Second, the live commenting aspect allows for more interaction between the two sides.

And, finally, this was the next logical step for Facebook, which has found huge success with video on its platform. The company is now serving four billion video views every single day, up from just one billion back in September. These new celebrity driven videos on Live are sure to drive that number up even further.

(Image source: newsroom.fb.com)