An increase in live streaming events on Facebook news feeds is about to happen as the social media giant has announced a new feature.
Public figures or journalists who have a verified profile can now access the Facebook Mentions app, which had previously been the preserve of a super-exclusive elite.
Verified profile
Previously, only celebrities and popular musicians were able to use live streaming, but now Facebook has rolled out the tool to journalists and other public figures with a verified profile.
This next stage is expected to eventually lead to the feature being available to all users, but currently the early stage development of the feature means that it is still being kept semi-exclusive while any potential issues are resolved.
Verified Facebook page
Pages or profiles are verified by Facebook in a similar way to Twitter, and the idea is aimed at letting other users know that what they are viewing is authentic.
A blue badge next to a verified page or profile’s name is the signifier, and currently the status is only available to celebrities, public figures, global brands and businesses and media pages.
As opposed to Twitter, users can ask to be verified but only if it is in relation to an entry for celebrities, public figures, sports teams, media and entertainment. There is an online form that can be used when logged in.
Facebook warns that currently most pages and profiles, including local businesses, aren’t eligible for verification.
Popularity
The popularity of similar live streaming app Periscope on rival social media network Twitter saw the app hit 10 million registered users before it was even available on Android.
This means that Facebook’s own live streaming function is likely to be a big hit, and the level of popularity of the new feature will decide when, or even if, it will be made available for everybody to have access to it.
Those who are now eligible can use the streaming service simply by downloading the Mentions app or logging into the Mentions app from within the verified Facebook account.
