As demand for live video increases during COVID-19 lockdown, Facebook is allowing non-users to watch live streams from mobile devices too. A feature that was until now only available on the desktop version of the app.
The feature is already available to Android users and will be rolling out to iOS "in the coming weeks," reports Engadget.
Facebook is also adding new options like ‘Public Switch Telephone Network’, that would allow people to listen in on a livestream via a toll-free number.
Facebook Live is also working on an "audio-only" mode where viewers will have the option to only listen to the audio of the Facebook live.
The social media giant is experiencing a massive surge in the usage of its apps as billions of people stay home. Due to the surge, the company is struggling to keep up with the traffic which is why it is introducing solutions like these.
Reports suggest that people using group video calls has increased by seventy percent, who’re spending more time than usual watching Facebook and Instagram Live amid the new coronavirus pandemic.
In a bid to manage the unprecedented load on Internet infrastructure as more people stay home during the lockdown, Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday announced to lower video quality in India as well as Latin America.
So if more people make use of some of the above tools like the audio-only feature, this could help decrease the load on Facebook’s servers and also help conserve resources.
— with inputs from IANS
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