Facebook Integrates Live Video Streaming: Broadcast for Friends

There’s a piece of conventional wisdom that says that Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter have turned us all into man-on-the-street reporters. A new app, that allows Facebook users to integrate live video streaming feeds into their timelines, is set to take that one step further—next, we can all be broadcasters too.

Broadcast for Friends (or BFF for short) is a new iPhone app from Ustream (News - Alert), the same company that NASA used to live-stream the landing of the Mars Rover Curiosity, with great success (the online broadcast of the event garnered more viewers than every cable news network except for FOX News). It allows Apple (News - Alert) aficionados to connect to their Facebook profiles, set up a widget, and start broadcasting live video—all for free (not counting mobile data charges) and without having to have a Ustream account.

Mindful of privacy, BFF asks how the broadcast should be shared: Public, Friends or Only Me. Once live, it lives in the timeline, shows up in friends’ newsfeeds and, through the public setting, could even go viral. After the event, the feeds are automatically saved and made available on demand through a library interface.

BFF also comes with what the company calls “10 Hollywood-inspired filters to make your video pop.” These range from the clever (Maltese for film noir style) to the urban chic (Vendetta graphic novel style) to the geektastic (Curiosity, inspired by the recent expedition to Mars). For nostalgic types, there’s even a sepia-tone option, dubbed Valentino.

Users can change filters by just swiping or by selecting a filter from a tab on the bottom of the app.

So how does it work on the technical front? What’s in it for Facebook? Ustream is being tight-lipped on that front. “There’s a ton of engineering power behind this simple app that allows us to get live video streaming on 3G and Wi-Fi to our servers and back to Facebook instantaneously,” said the company in its blog, adding simply: “The result is an experience that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

The app, a standalone offering for iPhone (News - Alert), is in beta phase, and no official launch date has yet been announced.

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