Periscope is an app that lets you broadcast live video to the world over the internet. Well, Facebook has just taken Periscope on with a new live video service that works the same way. In December, Facebook started testing live video. Now, the service is official on the iPhone Facebook app, though currently available only to the U.S. Facebook plans to expand availability to the rest of the world over the coming weeks.
To share live video, launch Facebook on your iPhone and follow these steps:
- tap on Update Status and then select the Live Video icon
- you can write a quick description and choose the audience that you want to share with before going live
- during your broadcast, you’ll see the number of live viewers, the names of friends who are tuning in and a real-time stream of comments
- when you end your broadcast, it will be saved on your Timeline like any other video, which you can then delete or keep for your friends to watch later
Facebook is working to bring live video to the Android app soon.