Facebook announced, amongst many other updates, that it’ll be adding the option for people to charge for access to events with Facebook Live streams. This is as more businesses, creators, and artists turn to internet live-streaming tools during the pandemic.
“To support creators and small businesses, we plan to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook – anything from online performances to classes to professional conferences,” wrote Facebook in their statement.
We reported earlier on how Facebook had announced a wide array of new features on their platform, as well as on WhatsApp and Instagram coming in various release dates. WhatsApp has already released their new update that manages to let you talk to 7 other people in your WhatsApp group calls.
However, for their new feature, there are not too many details yet available. Facebook didn’t give any launch dates for when users will be able to charge for events, except that “it’ll arrive in the coming weeks.”
Facebook is also making the Live feature more accessible. If you have limited data or a weak connection, you can opt to listen to just the audio. If you don’t have a Facebook account, you can view most public live videos are available on the web. Some Pages can even share a toll-free number that lets you listen to the audio through any telephone. There will even be an option for event creators to mark their events as “online only” since no one can go to in-person events right now, anyway.
Lately, views of Facebook Live and Instagram Live videos increased significantly in March due to social distancing practices all around the world according to Facebook.