Facebook announced Live 360 last week, and on Tuesday the company announced a new way to go live on Facebook Live Audio.

Book readings, interviews and news radio are coming to Facebook: Live Audio featuring launching on Tuesday with a few select publishers and authors before opening up to everyone next year.

Some of the first publishers with access to Facebook Live: Audio include BBC World Service (news radio), LBC (Britain’s leading talk radio), Harper Collins (book publishers, and authors like Adam Grant and Britt Bennet. “Early next year, we plan to make this new format more broadly available to publishers and people,” Facebook writes.

People using Android devices will be able to continue to listen to a Live Audio broadcast even when they leave the Facebook app, while iOS users will be able to continue listening as they browse other parts of Facebook.

“We know that sometimes publishers want to tell a story on Facebook with words and not video. We’ve even seen some Pages find creative ways to go live and reach audiences with audio only by using the Facebook Live API or by adding a still image to accompany their audio broadcast,” Facebook said. “Our new Live Audio option makes it easy to go live with audio only when that’s the broadcaster’s preferred format.”

Facebook is aware publishers will go live from areas that lack a strong network connection. Facebook will alert the broadcaster if their signal is low, and Live Audio will provide another way for connecting with audiences in real-time from low-connectivity areas.

With Facebook Live: Audio, broadcasts will have a new way to feature content. Facebook: Live Audio will make it easy for musicians to broadcast concerts, celebrities to do Q&A’s and authors to do live readings of their books.

​

RELATED STORIES
United kingdom Software Facebook