Dive Brief:
- Facebook’s latest move is a standalone camera app so users can create photos and video to share on the parent platform, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- One planned feature is to allow the app to live stream video taken in-app – an area Facebook has been especially bullish on lately.
- It’s speculated the new app is a response to falling rates of Facebook users sharing original content on the social network – down 15% earlier year, according to internal Facebook data as reported by The Information.
Dive Insight:
If the app launches – and that is still to be seen as sources say it’s in early planning stages – it should provide marketers a small challenge and a larger opportunity. The challenge is it would be one more app to master and keep track of, but at the same time it could be seen as a tool to ease content creation for Facebook, and presumably Instagram. Via the live stream feature, it could provide an easy avenue to create and control Facebook Live video streams.
Facebook is clearly working to address the issue of user-generated content sharing on the main platform, betting heavily on live stream video. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company even went so far as to give Facebook Live a premier spot on the app. A standalone camera app could potentially make streaming live video easier for users. And of course that ease would apply to marketers looking to take advantage of the format that offers intriguing possibilities for real-time marketing, product launches and other live events.
The app would also help Facebook compete in the live stream, real-time video space with the likes of Twitter-owned Periscope, Meerkat and even Snapchat.
