Facebook Live adds nonstop, 24-hour video
Brace yourselves for neverending kitten streams.
As part of the social network's wider push into live video, Facebook is expanding beyond on-the-ground journalism and in-car Star Wars toy reviews. TechCrunch reports Facebook Live will now also allow for 24-hour, nonstop streaming broadcasts.
The new feature is an upgrade from the 90-minute limit previously imposed on streams using Facebook's Live API, but it comes with the drawback of not allowing for archiving or rewind streams to play back later. Which is unfortunate, considering the Facebook Live team just rolled out a feature to jump to the best bits based on reactions and comments. For now, however, the endless feeds seem to be mostly taking the place of the once-ubiquitous livecams like Explore.org's Eagle Cam.
On top of the continuous streaming capability, Facebook also debuted a Live Video feature which TechCrunch calls "geogating" that allows producers to make a video available to users in a specific location -- which could come in handy for sporting events with limited broadcasting rights. And speaking of sports-friendly features, Facebook recently rolled out multi-camera support and the ability to add on-screen graphics, so it's only a matter of time before someone creates the first Facebook-only 24-hour live news channel.
