Facebook has been working constantly and has been trying to push its video features in the last couple of years by bulking up its live-streaming features and the video platform.
Half the fun these days of browsing on Facebook is just to look out for the videos that have been posted on the timeline, be it a 15-second recipe video or the Live Videos. But these videos have been confined to the small screen of the smartphone. As a part of this strategy, the social networking giant will now allow the users to stream their Facebook videos on a nearby TV that have been outfitted with Google Chromecast or Apple TV, or any other Google Cast-enabled display or AirPlay connections with just a single tap on the button that is present the top-right corner of their video. This functionality works from on iOS devices and the web browsers.
How Does The Streaming Support Work
When the user is watching a Facebook video on an iOS device, there will be a TV icon shown up at the top right corner of the video screen. The user can then select the device, either the Apple TV or the Google Chromecast, where the video should be sent. The video can now be viewed on the big TV screen. The same process works even while using Facebook on a desktop browser. While using the Android devices, the same TV icon will be displayed on the Facebook video screen, but the Chromecast will be only device option displayed.
The most obvious requirement for this function will be the need for an Apple TV or the Chromecast so that Facebook videos can be sent to the TV. With these gadgets available and connected to Facebook, the users can watch their Facebook videos on the TV and also continue browsing their News Feed and also keep playing on their mobile devices. And, if a Live Video is being watched, then the users can give their comments and reactions on their mobile phones and see them being displayed on the TV screen.
So now, watching the videos on the big screen will save crowding up around the mobile phones to watch them. And the best part is that the Live videos will have all the live reactions to be displayed as they are being aired from the users around the world.
This new update seems to be just another small step in the huge video-based ambitions of Facebook. The social networking giant has invested a lot of its significant resources to transform its News Feed column into a place where all sorts of videos, be it Live streamed videos or other crafted videos, will be available. And by adding streaming support to watch these videos on bigger displays is obviously a choice to encourage more consumption and increased viewability.
Facebook has this new video-casting feature being rolled-out currently for the iOS and web versions supporting the Apple TV and Google Chromecast, with the Android support for Chromecast arriving soon.