Meta Begins Testing, Rolling Out Features to Boost Facebook Live Creators’ Discoverability

Meta introduced a host of updates to Facebook Live Thursday. The company said in a blog post that there have been more than 10 billion broadcasts via Facebook Live to date, and its goal is to “make it easier to publish new content, connect more deeply with your community and be discovered by new audiences.” Featured Links—which Meta said was one of the most requested features over the past year—enables creators to add multiple third-party links to Facebook Live broadcasts, which viewers can click through without leaving the video. A new Polls experience is being tested on desktop to give creators real-time feedback from viewers and let those viewers engage directly with creators. The Live With feature has been upgraded to allow creators to invite three additional guests to participate in videos, up from one. Facebook Live broadcasts can now be shared directly to Facebook Stories, making them easier to discover. The Badges experience has been redesigned to give creators a better way to identify their most loyal fans. Meta is testing Front Row, another way to showcase a creator’s most devoted viewers at any time during Live videos by displaying them in a dedicated Front Row section, where creators can give them shout-outs. As part of the company’s commitment to invest more than $1 billion in creators through 2022, a new bonus program for Facebook Live creators will dole out payments based on the performance of their broadcasts. This initiative will be invite-only and kick off in the coming weeks. Meta also rolled out changes to comments on public posts and videos, saying in its blog post, “Engaging with your community in the comments section of your posts and videos is a great way to build relationships with peers and connect with fans, while reaching new followers.” When creators comment on public posts, a follow button may appear by their name, and posts they comment on may also appear in the feeds of their followers. And when creators engage in the comments section of their own posts, those posts may be shown again in followers’ feeds. Meta is easing the process for engaging in this sort of activity by letting creators react and respond to comments directly from notifications, as well as streamlining the commenting experience for its Live Audio Rooms audio feature. The platform’s comment ranking features were also enhanced, with new options including elevating comments and replies from creators to the top of discussion threads and lowering the visibility of spammy or repetitive comments. And comment ranking was extended to Facebook Live, Live Audio Rooms and Reels. Meta is testing a new post format, Spotlight Conversations, where creators invite guests to take part in a text-based discussion. Spotlight Conversations will appear as posts with two separate comment sections: one for the creator and guests, and the other for people following along. As part of its efforts to boost creator discovery, Meta is testing updates including the addition of a follow button on content from creators not already followed by users, as well as adding units to News Feed recommending public figures and creators to follow, based on users’ interests and other pages they already follow. The company is also testing ways to increase the variety of content for relevant ranking signals across its video and feed experiences, with a focus on emerging creators. Another feature being tested is a deep-dive experience showing people content they may have missed from creators they follow directly in their News Feeds, as well as giving creators the option to cross-post feed posts from Facebook to Instagram. Finally, Meta is testing a new way to create videos from the top of its Facebook Watch long-form video section with just a few clicks.

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Meta Begins Testing, Rolling Out Features to Boost Facebook Live Creators’ Discoverability

Comments are being enhanced and new post format Spotlight Conversations is being trialed

David Cohen

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David Cohen