Live on TV & Facebook, your favorite local newscaster
LOS ANGELES — Steve Noviello, a consumer reporter for Dallas’ KDFW, recently went shopping for new bedroom furniture, and discovered an odd pillow that immediately caught his eye.
So he went on Facebook’s Live Mentions app to broadcast it to his followers — and was shocked to see that 700 of them actually tuned in to watch.
Within an hour, so many had shared his video after he stopped broadcasting, it grew to 44,000, and then 33 million by the end of the week, or far more more than the size of his typical Dallas TV audience.
Noviello got the message. "This is where people are going," he says. "My job is to be there when they log in."
Many broadcasters like Noviello have been popping up in our news feeds over the past months, as Facebook has looked to take on the popularity of Twitter’s live Periscope app with its own service, which began in the summer in test mode.
Initially, only journalists, celebrities and public figures could participate, but over the past weeks, Facebook quietly opened it up to a sizeable chunk of its 1.5 billion users. Thursday, Facebook opened the platform to 100% of U.S. users of the Facebook app on Apple mobile devices, and said Android users would be coming soon.
The Live feature is available app only — not on computers, because Facebook says 75% of its video usage is on mobile phones. (Live Mentions is located in the Status Update section, where a little live icon resides.)
For most Facebook users, they’re probably seeing a lot more TV reporters going live currently than their friends.
For journalists, Facebook Live “is a really new way for them to connect,” says Facebook product manager Vadim Lavrusik. “The magic of Live is it's interactive. The people who are viewing the broadcast are just as much a part of it.”
Maria Sansone, a co-anchor of KTTV-Los Angeles's Good Day, L.A. goes live every morning at 6:45 a.m. before the show starts.
“I feel I know my fans in a way I never did before,” she says.
“It’s so instant,” adds fellow GDLA co-anchor Araksya Karapetyan: “There’s more of a connection. You’re real, you’re out there, you’re not behind a desk.”
KTTV had tried Google Hangouts and Twitter chats as a way to reach viewers in the past, but sees more response from Facebook than any other outlet the station has tried before, says Patrick O'Brien, the digital director for KTTV.
Facebook isn’t the only app where TV reporters are going live. Twitter’s Periscope app is a favorite of ESPN, where Sports Center anchors regularly talk to viewers in-between commercials, and “hundreds” of local stations reach out to viewers, says Periscope co-founder Kayvon Beykpour.
The advantages of Facebook Live for journalists is that Facebook promotes it big time, so it’s more than likely that you'll see these folks in your news feeds. Also, the video sticks around for replays, unlike Periscope, where live broadcasts go away after 24 hours.
Beykpour says Facebook is more about connecting with friends, while Periscope is “about hearing/seeing/feeling a pulse of the world. If you hear about something important happening in the world, you don’t check the place that you usually look to for your friend’s wedding photos.”
Peter Csathy, CEO of Manatt Digital Media, which advises tech firms, doesn’t see the live movement growing on Facebook and Twitter beyond those who already have a major following. In other words, you don’t have to worry — your friends aren’t about to take over your news feed with live broadcasts in a big way.
“Yes, our friends may tune out if we broadcast our lives too much on Facebook,” he says. The flip side is that folks with great social footprints “now have a powerful new tool to connect directly with their fans. They can never get enough, and live video streaming gives them a window on the world — a slice of the personality's 'real' life. That is powerful.”
Many of the local reporters USA TODAY spoke with said they liked going live on social media because it was a way for them to get the story out immediately at times when their TV newscasts weren't on the air.
"I don’t have to wait for 4 o’clock for the show," says Charisse Gibson, an anchor with KSLA in Shreveport, La. "This is a live shot I can do anytime and anywhere. How could I beat that?
For Christine O'Donnell, a reporter for KTTV, it's a way to report and interact differently.
“On the air, we often have to be a certain way when we tell a story," she says. "But with this tool, I get to show my personality more, and that helps the viewers get to know me more, and hopefully want to watch my stories more too."
Meanwhile, with the massive growth in live streaming on social media, what happens if live becomes so popular it knocks out the TV newscast altogether? Will we all be watching the news on Facebook?
“TV isn’t going away,” Lavrusik says. “This is really just something else -- an immersive way to connect with people and share moments in your every day life.”
Follow USA TODAY tech columnist and Talking Tech host Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham.