TOPLINE
Facebook announced Thursday that it is expanding its Messenger Rooms and Facebook Live features to allow users to stream live with up to 50 people, allowing the social platform to compete with services like Zoom and Google Meet as video conferencing explodes on popularity amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the F8 summit in San Francisco, California on March 25, … [+]
KEY FACTS
“Linkable group video calls” can be started directly from Facebook or Messenger, and room creators will be able to invite participants even if they’re not on Facebook.
The creator of the room will invite the participants and will have to choose to participate in the call, and the creators can block their room to avoid “Zoom-bombardment”.
People outside the messaging room “can see what is going on in the room depending on the audience and where the room is shared on Facebook,” Facebook notes, but the creator of the room will control “where the room on Facebook, who can watch the broadcast and who is invited to participate. “
Facebook said in a statement that the feature will launch Thursday in some countries and will ultimately expand to all regions where messaging rooms are available.
Zoom’s shares fell 5% on Thursday in response to the Facebook announcement.
Crucial quote
“Whether you host a book club with friends, interview a panel of experts, teach a gym class or stream with your friends for fun, going live from a room allows you to interact with audiences of any size,” Facebook said. it’s a statement. blog post announcing the new feature.
Key background
Video conferencing tools have increased in popularity as the pandemic has forced people to work and socialize remotely, with Zoom’s business increasing dramatically as competitors like Google and Microsoft expand their video capabilities to compete. Zoom said in April that it had reached 300 million participants in the daily meeting, compared to just 10 million in December, while Microsoft teams saw a 70% jump in April to 75 million daily active users. Facebook’s live feeds have also seen their popularity increase amid the transition to online-only events and classes, and the company reported Thursday that live feeds from Facebook pages doubled from June 2019 to June 2020.
Tangent
The Facebook announcement is the second update the company has made to Messenger in recent days, after announcing new privacy features on Wednesday that allow users to require fingerprint authentication or facial identification to access their messages.
Further reading
A new way of living on Facebook from the messaging rooms (Facebook Newsroom)
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