Facebook launched their official live streaming channel, “Facebook Live” today. The official viewer count of today’s live streaming show has not been announced, but TechCrunch is reporting a mere 360 (out of the 500 million) Facebook users watched the event live.
Don’t let the numbers fool you, I believe Facebook Live will catch on and will be a great marketing tool for those that are smart enough to capitalize on the integrated live streaming.
The folks that created Facebook Live did a good job designing the channel. One way to increase viewers is to make it easy for your viewers to recommend your show to other people. Facebook Live makes it easy to invite others by using the “Invite Friends to Watch” button (see image below).
Another familiar feature for those that watched the live streaming of the Presidential Inauguration is the option to update your status while watching the video. The updates can be posted to both the feed section (to the right of the video) and as a status update on your profile page.
Overall, I like the look of Facebook Live and I’m anxious to try it out.