New Facebook Live Chat, Streaming Features Introduced

Facebook announced two features Tuesday for those who want to watch videos and broadcast streams with their friends.

The social media platform introduced Live Chat With Friends and Live With, to make live videos more “fun, social and interactive.” Facebook said the features will “make it easier to share experiences and connect in real time with your friends on Live,” adding that users comment more than 10 times on Live videos than on regular clips.

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How Facebook’s Live Chat With Friends Works

Live Chat With Friends should help users who want to interact only with their friends when watching a live broadcast.

The update will keep your conversations private from the others, by allowing you to invite your friends to a private chat about a public live video. You’ll be able to invite friends who already are watching the broadcast or other users who might be interested in the live video.

You’ll also have the chance to go back into public conversations and continue communicating with your friends — even if the live broadcast is over.

Facebook is testing the feature in several countries and will make it more widely available this summer.

“When it comes to compelling public broadcasts — such as a breaking news event, a Q&A with your favorite actor or behind-the-scenes action after a big game — watching with the community and reading comments is an exciting part of the experience,” the company said.

The social media platform released a video of how the feature works:

How Facebook’s Live With Feature Works

Live With allows you to go live with another friend, which looks similar to Apple’s FaceTime. The feature was previously launched last year only for public figures who went live with a guest.

Read: Tumblr Launches Cabana: How To Watch YouTube Videos With Friends With New App

“Now available for all profiles and Pages on iOS, Live With lets you invite a friend into your live video so you can hang out together, even if you’re not in the same place,” Facebook said in a post.

To start a broadcast using the new feature, invite a friend to join you in your live video by selecting a guest from the Live Viewers section, or tap a comment from the person you want to invite. Your friend will then accept or decline the request. Once your friend joins, you’ll be able to go live with your guest in a picture-in-picture or side-by-side mode.

Here’s a video of how the Live With feature works:

The features will compete with other group video chat apps including, Tumblr’s Cabana, which was launched last month, Houseparty, Uptime and YouTube parties on Google Hangouts. However, chatting with Facebook on live videos will make it easier for those who regularly use the app and Messenger.