Facebook Live has been conspicuously missing from the desktop version of the platform since its launch at the start of the year.
Popular demand, however, has forced the social network to expand the livestreaming feature. In fact, Facebook has already quietly begun rolling out desktop Live video to select users. The company confirmed the news in a statement to SocialTimes: “We’re starting to roll out the ability for people to broadcast live on Facebook from their desktop or laptop.”
The wider launch of the feature reportedly comes on the back of requests from vloggers, journalists, and general fans of Live video. Facebook claims the desktop version is currently only available to a “small percentage” of users with more set to receive the feature “in the coming months.”
The company added that Facebook Live video on desktop supports both peripheral cameras, in addition to built-in cameras on laptops.
Additionally, Search Engine Journal spotted a video of a lucky user who already has access to the feature. Delilah Taylor shared a Facebook Live clip recorded from her desktop in which she discusses the random appearance of a “Live Video” button within the status composer.
“When I first clicked live video it didn’t do anything,” Taylor says in the video. “You’ve got to put in a comment and then you hit next, and when you hit next it will bring up a secondary screen, which kind of looks like a Google Hangout screen, and you can adjust your camera and microphone … Then you hit ‘Go Live.’”
The process of naming your broadcast before going live — what Taylor describes as “putting in a comment — has always been part of the streaming process on Facebook Live for mobile. Taylor does make reference to one major difference from the mobile version: the ability for broadcasters to type comments during the livestream.
The expansion of Live video doesn’t come as too much of a surprise considering Facebook began rolling it out on its Windows 10 app in May, consequently allowing users to broadcast from a Windows desktop or laptop. However, launching the feature on its desktop site will help introduce it to an even larger audience.
