With live 360 video Facebook should focus on cameras not content

360 cameras exist. YouTube already supports livestreaming in the immersive format. Yesterday Facebook finally opened up its popular Live service to the 360 videos too. But not for everyone. Right now it’s just select pages, with National Geographic kicking things off today. Officially, then, 360 livestreaming is going mainstream. But, if the the new world of live, spherical video is to succeed, livestreaming needs to get easier, with a home on a major social network.

YouTube has already made headway in this space, but much like how video streaming didn’t gain traction with the broader public until Meerkat and Periscope (and then Facebook) piped it direct into your friends’ feeds, 360 needs the immediacy of social to succeed. To do that, it needs hardware that’s easy to use and a seamless app experience.

If you go to Google and search “how to livestream 360 video on mobile” you’ll get a slew of results, but frankly, very few of them are appealing. I’ve played with several 360 cameras, but it wasn’t until I tried the new iO from Giroptic that I realised how sucky the livestreaming experience with those other cameras was. Giroptic makes streaming to YouTube in 360 barely more than a button push. The quality is decent for a device of this size, and social sharing is baked right into the app. Regular streaming/Facebook Live on mobile just requires a smartphone, so never had this hardware problem to figure out.

For many of us, our cellphone is our primary camera (in as much as it’s probably the camera you have on you right now). For conventional streaming, whether that’s on Facebook, YouTube, Periscope or even Instagram the humble smartphone has everything you need — a camera and an internet connection.

360 video, on the other hand needs a dedicated camera. Current products like Ricoh’s Theta, or Samsung’s Gear 360 might pair with your phone, but don’t currently provide an elegant solution for streaming live. The camera needs to be able to stitch in real time, have the bandwidth to shuffle video off to the internet, and an effortless way for users to do that.

Giroptic’s iO isn’t perfect, but it’s edging closer to the sort of thing live 360 video needs. As it connects to the lightning port, you’ll need to hold your phone upside down (no biggie, but it takes the edge off the seamless experience), but that does free up your WiFi connection. Despite being smaller than other products, it’s still a widget stuck to your phone. Though short of phone makers adding a 360 cam to their handsets, that’s something we’ll have to live with. There’s also no current Android solution (though the Insta360 Air might fill this gap).

What the iO does have going for it, is the all important live stitching, and that ridiculously easy way to start broadcasting live (at least for YouTube so far). This is basically the same simplicity that makes going live on Facebook so popular right now.

A frictionless experience is also way more important for Facebook than YouTube. Facebook itself knows this. In yesterday’s announcement about the National Geographic content it reminded us “Live video on Facebook gives people an immediate, authentic window into what’s happening in the world right now.” It’s much harder to be immediate and authentic when trying to connect something over WiFi direct, or when the camera is hanging off your laptop with a USB cable. But those are things you’re likely more okay dealing with for your studio-based YouTube or Twitch channel (even if that studio is your bedroom).

One of the key selling points for vanilla Facebook Live is that it’s a way to reach all your friends. YouTube might be where you go to follow channels and enjoy non-live videos, but the social networks are a direct feed into your social circle, and that’s an important difference. For this reason, the hardware part of it needs to be as near to being as part of your phone as possible.

Facebook’s app is already on millions of phones, just adding a button to “go live” makes sharing video in real time incredibly tempting, exciting almost. The authenticity Facebook speaks of naturally follows, whether it be the levity of Chewbacca Mom, or the tragedy of Falcon Heights. These same moments could happen on YouTube, of course, but the sticky grip of the social feed is a well carved channel for sharing and consuming. For 360 video to have the same impact as live sharing with regular video, we can’t wait for our devices to pair, or hope our friends are following us on YouTube.

Let’s not forget that Facebook is way more invested in 360/VR video than other social networks. What’s weird is that Facebook has already designed a camera for VR video, it just went totally the other direction. Unveiled at the F8 conference earlier this year, the “Surround 360” is a pricey solution aimed at professional creators.

There’s also the whole “why do I want to stream in 360 anyway?” thing. Of course, it’ll always remain a more niche way to share moments than flat video, but often it takes a new technology to hit a wide audience before it finds its voice. Just look at the myriad ways people use Twitter, or how users took ownership of Snapchat for evidence of that.

Unlike Facebook’s high end product, Giroptic’s modest dual camera setup won’t serve up 8K per eye (instead you’ll get a modest 2K sphere), but as the the company pointed out to me, ironically social users are usually more forgiving when it comes to streaming quality. There are some barriers that neither Facebook or camera-makers can surmount though, and that’s the bandwidth required for streaming 360 video. Giroptic, for example, currently needs a solid 4.5Mbps connection for live video.

Giroptic’s camera has a few kinks it needs to iron out. The stitching is good, comparable to Ricoh’s and Samsung’s, but the app I was shown was still in beta, and not quite ready for prime time. The current launch date is January 17th though, so there still a little time. The iO will sell for $249 (on par with Samsung Gear 360 and Ricoh Theta) which isn’t in the impulse-purchase territory, but it’s far more palatable than the multi-thousand dollar rigs from Nokia, GoPro and (relatively affordable) Orah. The real a-ha moment though, was that this is how streaming should work for 360.

I asked Facebook about its plans for bringing live 360 video to everyone, and the response was predictably coy, with a spokesperson simply telling me “We’re starting with a few partners so that we can test and learn from them as we work to create the best experience possible for people and Pages alike.” For now, though, all the pieces are finally there, but if Facebook wants to make 360 video go mainstream (and there’s every indication it does), it could do worse than follow Giroptic’s lead and tackle the camera problem. Be sure to know the content will follow.

Facebook debuts a ‘parent portal’ to stop online harassment

Even ignoring the past few months’ deluge of fake news or its ongoing inability to enforce its own community guidelines, Facebook has long had a problem with harassment, trolling and other unscrupulous behavior. Children have died due to the abuse they endure on the social network. That’s why Facebook on Tuesday debuted its new Parents Portal, part of the site’s Safety Center, to help adults help their kids not be complete tools while online.

The portal includes a section on the basic workings of the site — like how to sign up, add friends and post content — as well as a listing of common terms and user actions. Though, honestly, it reads more like something a teen would show their tech-phobic relatives because the family decided it’d be cute if Grandma got on Facebook for her last Christmas.

It also includes a section of condescending “parenting tips” like “let your child know that the same rules apply online as apply offline” or “try to be a good role model” and “trust yourself”. Normally, this practice is known as “not raising your kids to be obnoxious monsters” but these are the times in which we live and people apparently need to be reminded.

The Expert Advice section, on the other hand, is actually quite helpful. It includes external links to a number of family safety and advocacy groups around the world — a number of which helped develop the portal’s content. Of course, the easiest way to ensure that your kid doesn’t have to deal with abuse on Facebook is to simply not let them have a Facebook account. Besides, all the kids are on the Snapchats anyway.

Source: Facebook Newsroom

Facebook gives you basic access to Moments photos on the web

Facebook’s Moments photo sharing service has, for the most part, been a mobile-only affair. You could see individual Moments thanks to links, but you couldn’t just go browsing. However, you no longer have to turn to your phone for almost everything. In the wake of tests, Facebook is introducing a basic web version of Moments that lets you browse a collection of private photo albums. You can’t add photos, create slideshows or even comment, but it beats having to fire up the Android or iOS app just to revisit a memory.

It’s not clear why the web version is limited. With that said, our TechCrunch colleagues point out that Moments on the web goes out of its way to promote the mobile app. This may be as much about advertising as it is offering a convenience to people who can’t always reach for their phones. Still, it’s useful — and when the previous photo-syncing feature isn’t an option, it could be particularly important for some users.

Source: TechCrunch

Facebook now lets you livestream in 360 degrees

Facebook has unveiled the next iteration of its Live video streaming service, dubbed Live 360. As the name implies, the new feature will enable comprehensive surround video broadcasts in real time.

The social network is teaming up with National Geographic to promote the launch. Tomorrow, December 13th at 12pm ET, NatGeo will broadcast live from its Mars Desert Research Station facility in Utah, where, for the past 80 days, eight space scientists have been living in artificial habitats that replicate life on the Red Planet.

The Live 360 feature won’t be everywhere to start. Facebook plans to slowly roll it out to select Pages in the coming months before broadening its distribution to both Pages and user Profiles by the end of next year.

Facebook adds a ‘fake news’ reporting option (Updated)

Facebook has been getting dragged hard since November 8th — and rightfully so — given the unprecedented amount of shitposts and fake news that dominated the social site in the months leading up to the election. After his initial defense of “nuh-uh, wasn’t us” fell on deaf ears, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has decided to do something about it. The company has begun hitting fake news sites in the wallet, as well as scrubbing BS content through both curation and automation. And, on Sunday, Facebook appears to have quietly rolled out a third method: a new user-reporting feature that specifically calls out fake news for what it is.

Update: Turns out that the false news option has been active on the site since last year.

Now, when a user reports a post in their timeline (after selecting “I think it shouldn’t be on Facebook” option), they are able to select “It’s a false news story” from the subsequent screen. Notice that it is specifically differentiated from the “It goes against my views” option — namely because facts and your opinions are not interchangeable, regardless of how strongly you believe in either.

This move is actually well within the standard Facebook MO. The company has taken a similar stand with regards to the sale of illicit items, like guns, on its website wherein users are expected to self-police the virtual groups they subscribe to. Hopefully though, this reporting tool will be effective because it’s still terrifyingly easy to buy assault weapons from strangers on the social network.

Source: Matt Navarra (Twitter)

Facebook fixes faulty Live reactions count and other metrics

Facebook has kept its promise to be more transparent after it discovered that its system has been embellishing video views and ad data. The social network has admitted to (and fixed) a few more faulty metrics, starting with Live video reactions. You know those reaction emojis that flow across your screen while you’re watching Facebook Live? Well, you can “react” as many times as you want during the broadcast, but the website’s counter should only count your first to determine the total number of “Reactions from Shares of Post.”

Since this is all about faulty metrics, you can probably guess what happened: Facebook counted users’ extra reactions under the section, when it’s supposed to count unique reactions only. Now that the issue’s been fixed, broadcasters can expect to see their “Reactions from Shares of Post” count fall by about 25 percent. On the other hand, they should see their “Reactions on Post” count (the metric that measures all reactions, not just unique ones) swell by around 500 percent.

Facebook also found that there’s a discrepancy in the number of Shares, based on where you’re looking. For instance, a web page’s Shares total on the FB app might be bigger or smaller than the number of Shares you’ll see when you copy-paste the same URL into the app’s search bar. The company still doesn’t know what’s causing the problem, but it vowed to look for a resolution. Finally, the social network has included something in the update that’s not exactly about faulty data: it has improved its estimated reach tool to give advertisers a better idea of their campaign’s potential.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Facebook

Facebook now lets you create your own frame for photos and videos

For better or worse, Facebook is trying really hard to copy Snapchat. In the past few months the giant social network has added different features that, if you ask us, are seemingly inspired by the app with the ghost mascot. And its latest feature follows a similar trend. With its Camera Effects Platform, Facebook will let users make their own frame for profile pictures and videos. Now, you can’t just display whatever you want on your page, as Facebook does need to approve your creations.

The new tool isn’t targeted at individual users as much as it is businesses or people who are planning an event, such as a wedding or party. Essentially, you want others to use your frames, like what Snapchat offers with custom Geofilters. You can start making your own here, all you have to do is log in to your Facebook account and follow the steps on that page.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Facebook

Facebook was dominated by the presidential election in 2016

As the year winds down, companies like Twitter, YouTube and others have made a habit of reminding us of all the stories that dominated the conversation over the last 12 months. Facebook does the same and today the social network revealed the most popular topics that hit your News Feed in 2016. As you might expect, the US presidential election took the top spot while Brexit was the hottest subject in the UK.

Other popular topics include Pokémon Go, Black Lives Matter, the Olympics, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali and soccer’s Euro Cup. Notably absent from the list is perhaps the biggest story since the election was decided: fake news. Facebook has been dealing with the issue well before November, including false stories about the Pope endorsing Trump and a report about Fox News firing anchor Megyn Kelly surfacing as a trending topic. The Kelly story was promoted shortly after Facebook said it would no longer rely on editors to pen descriptions for popular stories on the site. The move to an algorithm-driven approach hasn’t exhibited much improvement thus far but he company has recently said it will make improvements to user reporting methods and early detection to combat the issue.

For something a little more personal, Facebook has also created year-end videos for each user. The footage provides a look back at your highlights from 2016. The company says the compilation is editable and once you settle on a final version, you can share it with all of your friends. Those individual videos will be making the rounds to your News Feed during December, but you can take a look now via this link.

In addition to its own video highlights, Facebook also posted a list of the most popular user footage from 2016. It’s no surprise that Chewbacca Mom took the top spot, followed by a smattering of election coverage and Dallas residents lining up to greet police following an attack earlier this year. To browse the full list of popular videos from 2016, consult the source link down below.

Source: Facebook