Facebook Live to Get Scheduling, 2-Person Broadcasting, and MSQRD Integration

At the annual VidCon conference, the social giant has announced that it will roll out a bunch of new capabilities to Facebook Live. The new features will include the ability to let two users broadcast together simultaneously, send notifications before the live broadcast begins, and even let users wait in virtual waiting rooms before the broadcast begins.

All of this will roll out sometime in the next few weeks. Facebook Live will get the ability to broadcast a video live with another user participating from a different location simultaneously. The broadcaster can invite multiple friends to join in on the live video conversation.

(Also see: Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Upcoming Features in First Facebook Live Q&A)

Furthermore, Facebookwill also allow broadcasters to send notifications to users that a Live video is about to begin. These pre-schedule notifications will lead users to a page, where the live stream will eventually play. If they end up there early, Facebook will let them sit in a virtual lobby-like room waiting for the Live video to start.

Broadcasters typically wait for more users to go live before they begin talking; this causes many early viewers to just leave the video before the broadcaster even begins. With this virtual waiting room, broadcasters can now have a large audience the second the live video begins.

Facebook is also bringing the ability to go live directly on Facebook from its recently acquired MSQRD app. The video filter app brings many Snapchat-like masks for users, and this integration will essentially allow users to mask themselves with these funny filters before they go live on Facebook.