Facebook Begins Rolling Out Live Video Streaming To All Users, Launches Collages

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The ability to broadcast live video on Facebook is something that has only been previously available to celebrities. Starting today, Facebook is giving a handful of users a chance to try out the feature ahead of a worldwide rollout.

Beginning today, several Facebook users in the United States will be able to live broadcast to their friends and family. The feature seems like a bid to take on Twitter’s Periscope.

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Live Video is treated as another form of status update, which allows users to very quickly update their friends and family. After adding a description and choosing who your audience will be, you are ready to start broadcasting. Viewing numbers are displayed in real time, and Facebook gives the viewers the option to post comments. Broadcasters have the option of retaining the video at the end of the show, giving others the opportunity to watch later, or removing it.

Facebook has given no indication of when Live Video will spread to Android and the web, but it is definitely a feature that is on the table.

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The social network also announced Collages, a new way for users to show off their photos in a collage layout. The new photo collage option provides a simple way to display groups of related photos together. Rather than a slideshow or a series of individual images, collages are a more visual and customizable way to show your photos.

The new collage feature will be rolling out to iPhone users today, but the company said that Android support is coming soon.

[via Facebook Newsroom]

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