There are already several ways for celebrities to interact with fans using live video — Meerkat and Periscope are two examples — but now a new, major competitor is throwing its hat into the live streaming ring too.
Live for Facebook Mentions will allow celebrities and public figures to stream live video to their Facebook fans using the Facebook Mentions app. When a video starts, it’ll appear in the person’s news feed and allow fans to like, share, and comment on the post. Fans that’ve recently interacted with the public figure will also get a notification about the start of a broadcast.
Once the broadcast is live, the host will be able to see the number of viewers as well as a real time stream of comments that can be responded to. And once the stream is over, the video will be published to the public figure’s Facebook page so that anyone that missed the live stream can catch the replay.
Live streaming apps have become pretty popular lately, with celebrities using Meerkat and Periscope to hold Q&A sessions with fans, show behind the scenes action, and more. And since Facebook already has a special app to help celebrities interact with their fans on the big social network, it’s no surprise to see the ‘Book add live video streaming support so that celebs can stick to Facebook Mentions rather than use a competing service for their live video streaming needs.
Facebook says that live broadcasts from the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Serena Williams, Ricardo Kaká, Ashley Tisdale, Michael Bublé, and more will take place soon, so it won’t be long before we get to see Live for Facebook Mentions in action.