Facebook has been continuously tweaking its News Feed to surface relative content to its users. Today, the social network has changed the algorithm again to put Live Video streams on top of your News Feed.
Vibhi Kant, Product Manager and Jie Xu, Software Engineer said in a blog post,
Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live. People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that’s no longer live.
For those unaware, Facebook had launched Live Videos in December last year which was the company’s answer to Twitter’s on Periscope. The Live video feature allows you to share a live video by simply tapping on Update Status and selecting the Live Video icon. It was expanded to all iPhone users in January and last week, Facebook said that the feature is coming to Android users within next week.
You can discover live videos from your friends and public figures you follow right in News Feed. While watching a live video, you can tap the Subscribe button to get notified the next time the broadcaster goes live. The social network already added 360 degrees videos to the News Feed in September last year. Facebook Live is currently available for verified Pages and public figures using Mentions.