Facebook delivers a new way to connect with audiences.
Expect to see a variety of live content on your Facebook news feed in 2017.
Today, Facebook announced a new way for broadcasters and publishers to go live with audio-only broadcasts, and will be launching the new feature with a couple British media partnerships — BBC World Service and talk radio broadcasters LBC — along with publisher Harper Collins and authors Adam Grant and Britt Bennett.
This new feature also helps Facebook offer an alternative streaming option for Pages looking to go live on Facebook in areas with low network connectivity. Audiences will still be able to offer live comments and reactions while listening to the broadcasts as is the case with Live Videos.
From the Facebook press release:
We know that sometimes publishers want to tell a story on Facebook with words and not video. We’ve even seen some Pages find creative ways to go live and reach audiences with audio only by using the Facebook Live API or by adding a still image to accompany their audio broadcast. Our new Live Audio option makes it easy to go live with audio only when that’s the broadcaster’s preferred format.
We also know that publishers sometimes go live from areas that lack strong network connectivity. Though we alert the broadcaster if their signal is low, Live Audio presents another option for connecting with audiences in real time from low-connectivity areas.
This news comes after Facebook added Live 360 videos to the fold last week.
It sure will be interesting to see how this new feature develops in the new year. It seems like BBC will look to set the standard for media outlets, while publishers and authors will be able to reach wider audiences with live book readings and interviews. However, we’re even more excited to see how this will be adopted by the Facebook community at large, as there’s great potential here for the emergence of live podcasts.
