Facebook has commenced testing the ability for people to share live video on Facebook, starting with a small percentage of people in the US on iPhones.

“Live lets you show the people you care about what you’re seeing in real time — whether you’re visiting a new place, cooking your favourite recipe, or just want to share some thoughts. No matter where you are, Live lets you bring your friends and family right next to you to experience what’s happening together,” advise Facebook Product Managers Vadim Lavrusik and Thai Tran.

“To share live video, 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,” they say.

“You can discover live videos from your friends and public figures you follow right in News Feed. While watching a live video, you can tap the Subscribe button to get notified the next time the broadcaster goes live,” they add.

Facebook is also introducing a new way to share experiences captured with a phone’s camera by grouping photos and videos that were taken together into a scrolling, moving collage.

According to Lavrusik and Tran, because Facebook was building Live it, needed to reconsider the process of sharing from mobile devices. “We are currently piloting a new design with a few people on iPhone and Android where they can now tap ‘What’s on your mind?’ at the top of News Feed to see a drop down menu of all the different options they can share. This will allow us to include new sharing features in the future,” they say.

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