Latest Facebook update is all about live video

Facebook is going all-in on the current live video trend. It is rolling out a new update to its Android and iOS apps that adds new ways to livestream video from the social network, along with additional ways to share and interact with those videos.

The update adds support for livestreaming within Facebook Groups and Facebook Events. The company states:

Live in Groups allows you to broadcast to just the people in the Facebook Group – so you can go live in your family group, or share a workout plan in a fitness group. Live in Events means you can go live from a birthday party to allow those that can't make it to join the fun, and a performer can go live backstage to the people who've RSVP-ed to the event to give them a sneak peak. You can even use Events to schedule a live Q&A session. We hope this new ability to both broadcast and watch live video within Groups and Events enables people to connect more deeply with their closest friends, family and the communities of people who share their interests.

If people want to offer their opinions on the video as it is being streamed, they can do so with the new Live Reactions emoji:

Using the same reactions we launched in News Feed, viewers can select Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry, and the reactions animate right on top of the video. Live Reactions appear in real time and disappear quickly so broadcasters and other viewers can get a sense of how people are feeling at different points during the live video – it's like hearing the crowd applaud and cheer.

Users can also pick from one of five video filters to change the look of the video, and Facebook says that a future update will allow users to draw and doodle directly on the stream. A new icon will be added to invite friends to join users to watch live video together, and a dedicated section of the app will be added to showcase trending live and non-live video streams.

All of these features will be rolled out "over the coming weeks" to the Facebook app in Google Play (opens in new tab), so they may not appear immediately.

John Callaham
15 Comments
  • Still waiting on the HD Photo upload option being activated even though it's supposedly been out for a while. Posted via the Android Central App
  • I still do not have Facebook messenger material design yet I it came to everyone else I think I will never get it Posted from my Moto X 2nd gen and my Nexus 9 both on Android Marshmallow
  • What am I seeing there - dark Facebook???! Where can I get my hands on that!?
  • I was wondering the same...
  • It's just the Live interface, I got excited too.
  • I hope youtube and Periscope have something to compete with this. Posted via the Android Central App
  • I'd rather see an improvement on power consumption. Posted via the Android Central App
  • @Booboolala2000 - that goes without saying - I just want to have a pleasant viewing experience if I decide to re-install this piece of junk. Dark would make things much more pleasant. I know about the stupid site wrappers - I don't want those...I want the real app but black.
  • Damn. Now my sister's gonna suck up the bandwidth even more.
  • For Facebook Live. Can't seem to run it on a samsung galaxy s4. Anyone know how much of an upgrade I need to run Facebook Live?
  • I have S7 edge also cannot live stream to fb
  • I have a new LG phone.... not to mention android tablets.... I have uninstalled and reinstalled Facebook. It absolutely will NOT allow me to have the Facebook live option... Is anyone else having this problem?
  • Forgive me! I went to like your comment because I'm having the same issue, and I clicked report on accident! So sorry
  • Same here! US Verizon LG V10 running OTA Marshmallow and according to Google Play, the "most recent" version of Facebook. I still have the old status screen with NO live option. Considering uninstalling until they get with the program.
  • I am still waiting for Go Live on my status messenge on Facebook Samsung S7 I am from Australia too most of my friends have the Go Live option but I don't I have been waiting for months