On April 6th, 2016, Facebook rolled out its Live feature, allowing users to share real-time videos to their profiles.
To celebrate two years of Live, Facebook head of video Fidji Simo announced in a post to her profile that 3.5 billion videos have been broadcast with the feature since it debuted.
Nearly two billion people have watched at least one Live video since April 2016, generating on average six times more social interactions than a regular video.
As well, Facebook says “hundreds of millions” of people have gone live during this time, with broadcasts from verified Pages specifically jumping 50 percent in the past year.
Simo also mentioned that Live helped spread the word on charitable endeavours. According to Simo, people used Facebook Live to help raise money for recovery efforts around hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria. Using the ‘Donate’ button in Live, Facebook users around the world raised $2 million USD for relief efforts, with the average donation amounting to $38.
Simo acknowledged that the service isn’t without its faults. “We’ve learned some tough lessons, too. The immediacy of Live brings unique challenges, and we have committed to improving how we handle them,” she wrote in the post.
“We have made significant progress over the past year: we’re reviewing live video more quickly, more thoroughly, and more accurately. But our work here is not done, and we’ll continue to do more to protect our community.
While she doesn’t point out any specific examples, Facebook Live has come under scrutiny in the past for being a platform on which murders or suicides could be streamed to unwitting users around the world. Some of the ways Facebook has addressed this is by offering tools to allow users to flag inappropriate videos, as well as add mental health resources for people who may be contemplating suicide.
Simo ended her post by saying Facebook is looking to bring Live’s interactivity to more videos on the platform, as well as new experiences entirely that are inspired by Live. “We’ll continue to invest in Live so that people and publishers can share moments that matter.”
