For Lollapalooza 2015, Facebook Live Events Page Takes On Snapchat 'Live Stories'

When you're experiencing FOMO (fear of missing out), Snapchat is no longer the only social network you can turn to for viewing live footage. Facebook tested a "Live Events" feature Friday that pulled public content from its users -- including verified performers and attending friends -- at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.

The update expands on Facebook's "Place Tips," a section of the site that lets Facebook users view friends' posts and public information based on a specific location. For Lollapalooza, the feature was accessible as a banner notification at the top of the Facebook mobile app. The page then included photos from the official Lollapalooza Facebook page, the schedule of artists, a festival map, public photos from fans and links to performing bands' Facebook profiles.

“This Place Tips Lollapalooza experience is just one of the many ways Facebook is trying to help people get the feel of an event when they’re not there," a Facebook representative told the Wall Street Journal in an email. The Lollapalooza coverage is Facebook’s first use of the feature. The company told the Journal it will continue experimenting.

Snapchat's live events feature, called "Live Stories," differs in that Snapchat users take photos or videos during the event and then submit them for consideration into a public stream. Snapchat then curates and stitches together submissions. These entries include footage from the artists and Snapchat team members who are flagged in the content management system. The feature, originally called "Our Stories," premiered at the Electric Daisy Carnival last year.

Snapchat now boasts that "stories" are its most popular feature. Last week, the company updated its advertising pitch numbers to claim that the app draws more than 3 billion videos views per day. For its part, Twitter, often heralded as the place for live events coverage through its use of trending hashtags, is expanding on that niche with an initiative called “Project Lightning.”

Facebook has long mimicked features found on Snapchat. Indeed, in 2013, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly offered $3 billion for the app. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel declined. That proposition was made back when Snapchat was simply a one-to-one messaging app and did not have "Our Stories," "Live Stories" or Snapchat Discover. Facebook has since created video messaging apps Poke and Riff. The network has also been testing vertical videos and ads as seen on Snapchat.