Today, we’re introducing a new way to broadcast live to Facebook from Messenger Rooms. Turning your room into a Facebook Live broadcast makes it easy to go live with up to 50 people. Whether you’re hosting a book club with friends, interviewing a panel of experts, teaching a fitness class, or broadcasting with your friends for fun, going live from a room lets you interact with audiences of any size.
From Rooms to Live
People are turning to Facebook Live more than ever to stay connected. Live broadcasts from Pages doubled in June 2020 compared to the same time last year, largely attributed to broadcasts since March 2020. From artists raising money for efforts they care about and local zoos hosting daily safari adventures, to congregations coming together for worship and couples exchanging vows, people are finding creative ways to connect through Facebook Live.
Messenger Rooms are joinable group video calls that make it easy to spend quality time with friends, loved ones and people who share your interests. Create a room that can go live right from Facebook or Messenger web, and invite anyone to join, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. As a room creator, you can broadcast your room to a Profile, Page or Group, and invite people to tune in. By bringing Messenger Rooms and Facebook Live together, we’re unlocking new ways for people to connect and create content even while they’re apart.
The room creator controls the live broadcast, including where the room is shared on Facebook, who can view the broadcast and who’s invited to participate. All the room participants will receive a notification inviting them to join the live broadcast and will have to opt in to participate. They can also choose to leave the room before it goes live.
The room creator can add or remove participants from the live broadcast at any time and room participants can leave the live broadcast at any time. Room creators can also lock and unlock a room during the live broadcast.
Keeping People Safe
When a room creator chooses to go Live, the broadcast is shared to Facebook and people outside the room may see what’s happening in the room based on the audience and where the room is shared on Facebook. We encourage viewers to report any live video that they believe violates our Community Standards.
As with other Live videos on Facebook, we may collect and review audio and video from the broadcast to make sure it follows our Community Standards.
Looking Ahead
This feature is rolling out in some countries on Facebook and Messenger web starting today, and will soon expand to all countries where Messenger Rooms is available as well as to the Facebook and Messenger mobile app and Messenger desktop app. And we’ll continue to add enhancements over the coming months. We’re excited to see the creative ways people will broadcast with this feature.