Android users, are you ready for your close-up?
Facebook has begun rolling out its Live Video feature to devices running on theAndroid mobile software, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said at a town hall Q&A session in Berlin on Friday. The Menlo Park, California, company has been slowly rolling out the feature to Apple’s iOS devices over the past few months.
“Live Video is one of the things I’m most excited about,” he said.
The ability to express your thoughts through a live broadcast represents the next step in Facebook’s mission to get you sharing your life with the world. Zuckerberg said he believes we’re entering an era in which video will be the primary form of content we share.
With the new feature, Facebook follows Twitter’s Periscope and startup Meerkat, which drove the initial wave of live video as people began to experiment with their own broadcasts.
Giving everyone the ability to broadcast like television is “very powerful,” he said.
As the world’s largest social network, with roughly four times as many regular users as Twitter, Facebook holds a great deal of sway over the way the masses conduct their lives online. Too much sway, some might say — consider the pushback Facebook has gotten in India over its Free Basics program. But there’s not really any slowing of the juggernaut these days, as it presses ahead in areas ranging from virtual reality headsets to Internet-beaming aircraft.
Zuckerberg touched upon a number of different topics during the Q&A, which lasted a little over an hour and included an update on fatherhood (“It’s awesome”) and how his dog, Beast, is acclimating to the new addition to the home (he’s doing fine, by the way). Here are the highlights:
Hate speech: Zuckerberg took a definitive stance, saying “Hate speech has no place on Facebook.” He also notes that the company isn’t perfect and is continually working on finding and flagging harmful speech on the site.
Privacy: “We absolutely need to do a good job on this,” he said. Facebook wants people to have complete control over their content and to know that the government or hackers can’t get to it.
If he were Twitter’s CEO: “I have no idea what to say without getting myself in a lot of trouble,” he said with a laugh. Instead, he pointed to how Facebook has grown its Instagram photo service by offering a place for average people and celebrities alike to share great raw content. Instagram is bigger than Twitter, he reminded the audience.
Artificial intelligence: “I’m very optimistic,” he said. Zuckerberg has a goal of building an AI system to power his home, getting as close to Iron Man’s Jarvis as possible. While some people fear the prospect of AI, he prefers not to be cynical about it.
A dislike button: Facebook’s new Reactions emojis are the closest thing you’ll get to one.
Advertising content: The goal is to get the quality of ads to be the same as the quality of your social posts. “It’s our job to make it as relevant as possible,” he said.
Virtual reality: Zuckerberg sees virtual reality as the next step after video in how we share experiences. He hopes to eventually be doing these town hall meetings in live 360-degree video, which you can watch with a VR headset. “Maybe five years from now,” he said, “or maybe sooner.”
