Facebook states more individuals are seeing live videos in the middle of coronavirus crisis

Facebook stated Friday that it’s seeing an uptick in the variety of individuals who view live videos on the social media network as more individuals social range themselves from family and friends since of the coronavirus break out. From February to March, the variety of Facebook Live audiences in the United States increased as much as 50%, according to the business.

The social networks giant, which has 2.5 billion regular monthly active users, stated it’s likewise stepping up efforts to make live videos available to more individuals. That consists of the capability to view live videos without a Facebook account and a method to just listen to the audio of a video, a function that might assist users in locations with bad web connections.

Now playing:
Watch this:

Coronavirus lockdown: Why social distancing saves lives

5:41

The surge in Facebook Live users means the social network will be expanding its focus on live video, a tool that also comes with moderation challenges for the company. While users have turned to Facebook Live to broadcast everything from concerts to cooking demos, it’s also been used in the past to stream suicides and crimes such as last year’s Christchurch mosque shootings. 

A Facebook spokeswoman wouldn’t share the total number of Facebook Live users in the US, but she said the increase was “significant.” There have been more than 8.5 billion broadcasts on Facebook Live.

Fidji Simo, who heads Facebook’s app, told Bloomberg the company is changing its product roadmap as user behavior shifts because of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. Employees are focusing more on live video, news and groups versus features that encourage people to gather in person, like Facebook events and Facebook Marketplace (where people sell new and used goods). Those priorities will likely continue even if the spread of the virus dies down.

“It’s a need that exists in times of physical distancing, but it’s a need that exists in normal times as well,” Simo told Bloomberg.