Facebook introduces live video streaming, photo collages features

Facebook has introduced its own live video and photo collages features to take on the likes of Periscope and Meerkat. The social media giant says that it has launched these two features to help its users to keep friends and family updated in real time by live streaming their activities and chronicling their journeys with photo collages.

This is not the first time that Facebook has experimented with live video streaming. In August 2015, Facebook launched Live, a way for public figures to connect with their fans via live videos. Live, unlike this new video feature, was only available for renowned public figures.

For now, the Live video feature is available in the US on iPhone and the photo collage feature is only available on iPhones and will be coming to Android early in 2016.

To share live videos, users need to tap status and then select the Live Video icon. According to Facebook, users have the option to write a message in their videos and choose the audience that they want to see the video.

Similar to Periscope and Meerkat, the other live video streaming apps in the market, Facebook’s live video feature has more or less the same functionality. Users will be able to see the number of live viewers, names of friends and family who are tuning in, and a real-time stream of comments. Once a video finishes playing, it is saved onto the Timeline, and users can decide whether they want to delete or keep it.

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Should a user want to keep up to date with live videos or family who is perhaps on holiday, they can, while watching a video, tap the Subscribe button to get notified the next time the broadcaster goes live.

The photo collage, the other new feature from Facebook, allows users to group videos and photos that were taken together into a moving collage. This is perfect for documenting a journey to a concert, from the moment you are getting ready at home, making your way to the concert, at the concert and on your way back home. Anyone watching will get a better sense of the journey as opposed to viewing separate images that friends or family upload to Facebook.

The photo collages work similarly to Google Photos photo assistant. Recent moments from a camera roll will be organised into collages, based on where and when they were taken. If a collage is not good enough, there is an edit option for users, where they can rearrange the photos and videos in the order that they want and then add a title to the collage before sharing it.