Facebook Live Best Smart Mobile vs PC takes on Twitch with desktop streaming: Get Online News Updates 24/7

Anyone can now stream live videos from their desktop, previously the option was only available to publishers.

New York, United States – March 23, 2017 /MarketersMedia/ —

Facebook has expanded its live video streaming platform to let anyone broadcast video from their desktop, and in the process, has made it possible to stream content from games.

Mark Zuckerberg’s social network launched Facebook Live in April 2016 and it lets anyone broadcast live video from mobile devices straight to Facebook. Until now, only verified publishers had been able to broadcast live video from a desktop computer or laptop.

“While it’s been possible for people to go live to Facebook from mobile devices since last year, desktop or laptop computers provide a stable camera setup that can be beneficial to many types of Facebook Live broadcasts,” wrote Erin Connolly a Facebook product manager and Jeff Hendy a software engineer in a blog post.

To start a live stream from the desktop, select ‘Create a post’ at the top of the newsfeed.

The update means it is possible for Facebook’s 1.86 billion monthly users to broadcast video footage wherever they are in the world. The video may also increase in quality, with those wanting to publish posts not having to rely on shaky mobile phone footage.

Stream to Facebook LIVE – PC or Mac: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5fm9jm_stream-to-facebook-live-pc-or-mac_tv

However, what is potentially more significant is the addition of the ability to stream video content from outside sources on Facebook Live. The feature was similarly only previously available to verified publishers but now has been introduced to everyone on Facebook.

“If you’re a gamer, this new feature makes it easier than ever to stream your PC gameplay to friends and followers and engage with them while you play,” Facebook’s Hendy and Connolly write in their post.

The move will be seen as an attempt to unseat games streaming website Twitch. Owned by a subsidiary of Amazon, Twitch, introduced in 2011, allows anyone to live stream footage of them playing video games.

Twitch says it has 9.7 million daily active users and two million individuals streaming per month. Its users apparently watch 106 minutes of video gameplay each day and there are more than 17,000 members of its partner program, that allows those broadcasting video to make money from their content.