Facebook Live Video vs. Periscope for broadcasting
Tech Industry
Everyone in your Facebook feed is about to become a broadcaster.
I'm Bridget Cary, this is your CNet update.
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Facebook has finally opened up it's live video broadcast feature to more people.
Right now everyone with an iPhone in the U.S. can stream live videos to their friends on Facebook right from their phone.
The network is still working on a version for Android.
You'll find it inside the status update.
Just click the icon of a person with a broadcast signal halo.
I like to think of it as the holy saint of video.
Blessed be thy live steam.
You create a title and choose who you want to see it.
When you're ready, go live.
Bam, there's no going back, it's happening, you are live.
Friends can comment in realtime and when they do you should answer them or say hi.
That's the point of live video, to be able to interact with questions and comments in real time.
You can also Like a comment.
You can see how many people are watching too.
The concept is the same as Twitter's Periscope, but the comments do not pop up on top of the video On Facebook, it all just sits under the broadcast.
I think I like how Periscope does it better.
It makes it more interactive and lively.
And of course there are the hearts, too.
Facebook has been testing and gradually rolling out live video for the past five months, as it tries to play catch-up to Twitter's more popular Periscope app.
And of course, [INAUDIBLE] Started this live, streaming buzz first when it launched last year.
But the biggest difference is that Facebook videos will live forever to be watched by your friends who missed it live, unless you delete it.
On Periscope, the videos last only about a day before they vanish.
On Meerkat's iPhone app, it does have the choice to save a stream to your profile.
Meerkat has some neat tools, like being able to let a friend jump into your broadcast from their phone But most people abandoned the app, and now everyone is just using Periscope these days.
Poor little meerkat.
In other news, what was once free is no more on iTunes.
Apple's iTunes radio stations used to be free, but now They can only be accessed with an Apple Music subscription which costs $10 a month after the trial period.
The only thing left free is Beats 1 Radio and some news stations, like NPR, BBC News, and ESPN.
Apple Music and Spotify are at the top of the paid music streaming food chain with a little service Tidal, launched by Jay Z, Madonna, and other music celebrities Is still fighting on.
It hopes to get some attention again with the help of Rihanna, whose new album ANTI just made its unexpected exclusive debut on the service.
And it did draw in more than a million trial subscribers.
The album is coming to other services in a week.
THat's it for this Tech News Update, but if you're still hungry for more, you'll find a tech feast at cnet.com.
From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey.
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