Today, I used Facebook’s ‘live’ for the first time. To me it feels almost like a merger between Messenger and Snapchat. As if someone had managed to live stream their Snapchat story. I think that the function is quite redundant when used in a personal sense. I would much prefer to add a story to my Snapchat profile where really only my close friends can see what I’m up to, as appose all those neglected friends each of us have on Facebook.
However, when live is applied to journalism, it really works. Just a few weeks ago myself and a thousand other viewers watched as the British Army live streamed an exercise from somewhere deep in the countryside. The fact that this could be used by a genuine war correspondent in a real war zone such as Iraq is absolutely revolutionary( and that’s only the start).
A feature of the interface when watching a live stream is the ability to see how many others are watching with you and who else is watching with you. I think this is a brilliant feature, allowing you as the audience to interact with your fellow viewer while watching the stream. An aspect that helps live integrate well into Facebook’s plethora of other interactive features.
