Businesses and Artists Can Now Charge for Facebook Live Streams
The COVID-19 crisis has caused musicians and artists to lose some - if not all - of their income. With festivals and concerts called off, as well as club doors bolted shut, many artists are not able to generate income from live events due to social distancing measures. Step in Facebook. The social media platform is set to pave an innovative way for these performers to earn money while on lockdown. Their live video services are being expanded, and artists will be able to charge for their fans to access live video content. A recent statement by Facebook has said that businesses and performers will only be able to mark a Facebook event as an online event during the coming weeks. However, the platform will integrate a new feature to live streams that will allow musicians and businesses to charge viewers to access the online stream. Anyone who can provide an online class or service using video streaming will be able to tap into this new opportunity. Another flagship change to Zuckerberg’s Facebook will be a Messenger Room feature for large-scale conferencing, accommodating as many as 50 guests. Meanwhile, WhatsApp is planning to create up to eight-way conference calling and video messaging. Those utilising Facebook’s Portal will also be able to go live to groups and pages.
Five More Changes to Facebook Features
Allowing businesses and musicians to charge for streamed content is not the only big change that Facebook is making. They are also:
- Reinstalling the Live With feature so people can stream together no matter where they are in the world. This will allow users to conduct interviews, introduce guest speakers and much more.
- Including a donate button on live streams to help raise money for worthy causes during the pandemic.
- Improving the accessibility of live video content by enabling users to listen to the video without having to watch the stream. This will increase access for those with limited data or poor internet connectivity. In some cases, you won't even need to be a Facebook user. Some live videos can be watched online without an account, and the audio of some videos can be listened to over the phone by calling a number.
- Enabling gaming live streams from smartphones to Facebook via a trailblazing app available on Google Play. The unique Facebook Gaming app will also let gamers watch gaming streams, enter tournaments and much more.
- Helping creative types by making the Stars function widely available in more countries. Stars can be bought by users and sent to musicians, artists and other creative people during their live streams. The live streamer will receive $0.01 for every Star that a viewer shoots over.
Expect big changes to Facebook in the near future to help businesses during the difficult COVID-19 pandemic!
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