Facebook updates Live video for mobile with added reactions and filters

Facebook is launching new features to its Live video capabilities by adding reactions and filters.

The updates on iOS and Android mean users will soon be able to share live video to a specific group or event.

Live originally launched last year in Facebook's Mentions app and was released to users in the US in January and outside America in February.

A new video discovery tab will replace the Messenger symbol currently at the bottom of the iOS and Android apps.

Messenger notifications will move to the top of Facebook's mobile apps near the search box.

Users will now be able to invite a friend to watch a video with them and will be able to see what the other person is saying.

In a move that's similar to Periscope, Facebook 'reactions' will also be coming to Live and will be displayed on top of the video, scrolling across the screen.

Here's how to share a live video to your Timeline on Facebook.

Facebook Live was first used by celebs like The Rock

Some of the new features in the latest round of updates are more important than others, according to Will Cathcart, Facebook's vice president of product management.

Will says that, for example, "if people 'love' something, you'll see a flurry of hearts in the video".

"We've introduced this so everyone can see all the reactions from the crowd at the same time," he tells Newsbeat.

And if you're watching video later - after the live session is over - then you'll see comments appear over time, as they happened.

"This will help people to make sense of things like why the broadcaster answered a question," Will explains.

Whoever is making the video will now be able to choose from five filters like black and white and sepia, and will soon be able to doodle drawings on top of their videos too (both features on Instagram and Snapchat).

The updates will allow you to add filters and writing to your live videos

There will be a button for Live in the Facebook app, where you'll be able to see popular videos as well as videos from friends and celebrities you follow and things you're interested in.

A Facebook Live map page on Facebook's desktop website will display bubbles around the broadcasts showing you how many people are watching the video.

On Facebook's desktop website, there will now be a Facebook Live map of videos around the world

Why roll out Facebook Live?

"As people get better cameras in their phones that can take better pictures and video, we've sought more and more to make video a well supported part of Facebook," Will says.

"We have been surprised with the positive reaction to Live so far as people have really taken this up, whether they are sharing with their friends and family, the world or their fans.

"We've seen that live videos get 10 times as many comments as regular videos, and people broadcasting read those comments and react to them.

"So the updates are in the spirit of making Live a more permanent part of Facebook that's hopefully something people end up liking."

You can watch video after the live broadcast is over and see comments appear as they happened

Isn't Facebook a bit late developing this, as there are already things like Periscope?

"We have always responded to what users like. For example, when we started it was photos. People kept changing their profile picture every day, so we developed that as part of Facebook.

"Now we're seeing a lot of people adopt Live. It's really growing quickly compared to what we expected, so we're really excited about what will happen with it in the near future," Will says.

"We are really trying to focus on what's helpful to people, so we will continue to develop other parts of Facebook including regular video."

How are you planning to keep the content safe so that people don't just post explicit videos to Facebook?

"Live has all of the same privacy features that the rest of Facebook has. There are privacy settings people can choose to only share their videos with certain groups of people.

"Content on Live has to follow all of our community standards. We have teams behind the scenes making sure that the content complies with those standards, and people also let us know when it's not doing that and we will keep an eye on it as Live grows.

"Even if things meet the standards, if we think it might be sensitive we might put out an advance warning letting people know the video might contain sensitive material."

Are you going to phase out live video from other services?

"With Live, we want to feature whatever the users are most interested in seeing, whether that's content from Facebook or elsewhere.

"Video has become a big part of Facebook and we expect that will be the same with Live.

"We do think that it will provide an opportunity for rich native mobile experiences that can unlock a lot more content consumption."

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