Facebook has been developing a tool that would enable public figures to broadcast live to their fans. The social network launched “Live” this week, as a feature in its Mentions app exclusively available to celebrities with verified Pages. The launch kicked off with streams from stars such as Luke Bryan, The Rock and Serena Williams. It is not known whether the feature will be made available to ordinary users to compete with the likes of Periscope and Meerkat, but the company plans to gather feedback from celebs and viewers to “evolve the product.” Continue reading Facebook Rolls Out Live Streaming Video Feature for Celebs

Facebook has developed a “Watch Later” button for videos that appear in a user’s news feed, so that video content can be saved and viewed at a later time or date. The new button includes a small overlay tab in the upper right hand corner of a video that appears when a mouse scrolls over it, and allows for a simple way to save videos. The feature goes a step beyond Facebook’s current less visible “Save” feature and puts it more on par with YouTube. Video is a growing category for Facebook; the network reported 4 billion daily video views last quarter. Continue reading Facebook Tests ‘Watch Later’ Button to Increase Video Views

Facebook has announced a new set of features that provide users with more control over what they see in their news feeds. The new controls will include a “see first” list, comprised of the family, friends and followed pages that are important to a user and will show up at the top of his/her feed. Users can now access a single list to re-follow multiple people they’ve previously un-followed (ideal for temporarily muting spoilers of your favorite TV shows). Facebook has also added a feature to suggest pages for avid users who run out of fresh content in their feeds. Continue reading Users Now Have More Control Over Their Facebook News Feeds

Videos on Facebook garner 4 billion views a day — 75 percent on smartphones — and the company is increasing its efforts to turn views into profits. Its newly unveiled strategy is to share ad revenue with video creators, both to attract better content and more ads. Facebook will keep 45 percent of the revenue, similar to YouTube’s revenue model, but the two differ in a significant way: Facebook will divide the creators’ 55 percent share of ad revenue among all the videos that appear adjacent to the ad, based on how long users watch each video. Continue reading Facebook Plans to Push More Videos and Share Ad Revenue

After months of negotiations, media companies have finally started publishing their content directly to Facebook. Nine major news organizations, including BBC News, NBC News and The New York Times, have agreed to the Facebook deal. The articles will load faster and the news organizations will be able to sell advertisements and keep the entire revenue. However, some analysts believe that this deal might draw readers and advertisers away from the media companies’ own sites. Continue reading Facebook Now Hosting Articles from Major News Organizations

SnapStream is known for making massive DVRs for media productions like “The Colbert Report,” but now the company is introducing a less expensive DVR that is still loaded with features. The SnapStream Express may prove too expensive to be a consumer product, but businesses may be drawn to the functionality and $499 price tag (plus $99/month service fee). It has 2TB of internal storage, an intelligent search function, and a Web-based interface designed for PCs. The DVR can also post clips directly to social media. Continue reading SnapStream Unveils Affordable New DVR Targeting Businesses

Facebook recently launched an app called Riff that enables users to create collaborative videos with their network of friends. Each finished project is a composition of short clips that are added to the video as it gets shared among friends — and friends of friends — on social media. For Facebook, Riff is another attempt to further encourage its users to watch and share video content on its social platform as part of a larger ongoing strategy to better leverage advertising opportunities.  Continue reading New Facebook App Intros Collaborative Video and Ad Potential

Facebook has introduced a new technology that will someday allow Facebook users to explore immersive, 360-degree videos from their News Feeds. The company unveiled the technology at its annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco this week. The content is created with a 24-camera rig, and it can be viewed in a browser or a smartphone screen without a headset. Facebook envisions users will also use an Oculus Rift headset to view the 360-degree video in the future. Continue reading No Headset Needed to Watch 360-Degree Video via Facebook

Facebook wants to use beacons to test a new service called Place Tips that transmits information about shops, restaurants and landmarks to users nearby. Facebook will begin testing the service in New York City at different shops and city landmarks. Place Tips uses location services to identify when a Facebook user is nearby any one of the designated locations and then pushes content such as photos, reviews and tips about the location directly above a user’s Facebook News Feed. Continue reading Facebook Tests Beacon Tech to Provide Users with Local Info

Facebook announced that it plans to launch the ultimate Super Bowl experience on its social network with what can best be described as a second-screen, real-time news feed entirely devoted to Sunday’s game between the Patriots and Seahawks. Facebook users can visit the designated Super Bowl page to access a live scoreboard and a running play-by-play of the game, as well as curated posts, photos, videos and ads from media sources, celebrities and friends talking about the game.  Continue reading Facebook To Cover the Super Bowl with Real Time News Feed

Facebook is launching a new service designed to be appropriate for the workplace called Facebook at Work. The service is almost identical to the regular social network, except for a white color scheme that replaces the iconic blue layout. The difference in colors is to help employer’s distinguish when someone is using a work account as opposed to a personal one. Facebook at Work will allow users to connect with colleagues to become more efficient around the office. Continue reading Facebook Aims to Make Social Media a Tool for the Workplace

YouTube has confirmed a new feature that will play suggested follow up videos at the end of a viewed video. The video autoplay is currently being tested among a small percentage of users. Autoplay could replace YouTube’s current suggested video grid that appears at the end of every video. If well received by its users, autoplay is a tool that YouTube plans to use to feed content to those casual users that do not necessarily know what they are looking for on the video site. Continue reading YouTube Autoplay Could Change How We Watch Our Videos

Instagram — the photo- and video-sharing app owned by Facebook — announced yesterday that it presently has 300 million monthly active users, up 50 percent in nine months (more than 70 percent of its users are now outside the United States). The new numbers suggest that the social service is more popular than Twitter today (Twitter recorded 284 million monthly active users for Q3). Instagram is looking to leverage its meteoric popularity to engage users in new ways, and draw advertisers at the same time. Continue reading Instagram Now Bigger Than Twitter, Looks to Brand Advertising

Facebook, which reaches around 1.3 billion people monthly, currently makes up 20 percent of traffic to news sites. The social media platform provides around 30 percent of U.S. adults with news, acting as the leading news source for many consumers. Facebook, which sees itself as a personalized newspaper, is hoping to lead the change in how readers consume journalism. The company, along with other social media sites, could potentially control the future of certain news sites. Continue reading Social Trend: Facebook Changing the Direction of Journalism?

Facebook recently announced Safety Check, an easy way to check on others when disasters strike. The service will first allow users to let others know they are safe during a disaster. It will also allow users to check in on others and mark friends as safe. Only friends will have access to these updates. The tool is designed for users to remain connected to those they care about. Safety Check will be available on Android, iOS, feature phones and desktops globally. Continue reading Facebook Introduces Safety Check for Users During Disasters