Facebook introduces Live Chat with Friends and brings Live With to general public

Facebook Live is becoming all the hype. Not a day goes by without a notification of someone streaming, right? At least that's the case for me. But the truth is these live videos can be fun, and the social network is now introducing a couple new features for this service: Live Chat with Friends and Live With.

Live Chat with Friends

Facebook's regular live video chat is good, but sometimes you want to get a little more personal. Live Chat with Friends makes it possible to pull people aside and start a private conversation regarding your video. And the conversation can continue through Facebook Messenger once the live video has concluded.

Live With

Live videos can get lonely, which is why Facebook introduced Live With last year. The only problem was that us regular users couldn't invite a buddy to join a live video remotely; the service was strictly exclusive to public figures.

This changes today as Facebook rolls out Live With to all pages and profiles… on iOS. We know – bummer. But hey, the feature is now out and we doubt it will take long before Android gets the same amount of love.

Get it from Google Play

Previous updates

React to Facebook comments, not just posts

May 5: It was early last year that Facebook introduced us to what the company calls "reactions": ranging from love to angry, the update did not bring the dislike button that all of us had been waiting for, but it opened up a whole new world for self-expression. These reactions were initially limited to Facebook posts, but the social media giant recently integrated them into its Messenger app. Now, you have the exact six emojis for comments as well.

Snapchat-like camera features

March 28: Facebook has rolled out three new camera-centric features to its Android and iOS apps. The improvements arrive as Facebook takes further steps to compete with the ever-popular messaging app Snapchat — and fans of that might find these new additions quite familiar.

"Direct "essentially mimics the core functionality of Snapchat: you can share photos and videos with specific friends that will be viewable for a limited time only. Stories is a feature which lets you share photos and videos which can be viewed for 24 hours. The last update straight 'outta Snapchat comes in the form of camera effects. Facebook is rolling out a number these, including filters, masks and "dynamic objects" that can be applied to your snaps. In addition, the camera icon will now be accessible from the top left corner of the Facebook app, or by swiping right on the News Feed, to make photos even easier to take.

Desktop/laptop streaming

March 23: Having enabled live streaming through its mobile app last year, Facebook has announced that live video can now be broadcast from desktop and laptop devices too. Facebook announced the addition on March 22, and you should be able to find the "live video" button at the top of your News Feed or Timeline on the desktop version of the Facebook site. Once you click it, you can follow the prompts to add a description and select your audience, before beginning your broadcast.

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