Author: Brittany Ward

If you have been using Facebook and Instagram like many people and businesses during COVID19 to continue getting your message to your audience, you’ll be delighted to know they have just released an array of incredible functions to make it easier to reach your people!

Mark Zuckerberg went live on his Facebook channel to announce all the upgrades last week. Check out these incredible features!

FACEBOOK
🔹 Messenger Rooms launched
🔹 Paid Facebook Lives (coming)
🔹 ‘Live With’ is back (FB mobile)
🔹 Add the donate button to live videos 
🔹 Option to listen to audio only on Facebook Lives
🔹 Stars expanded to more Pages and countries
🔹#SupportSmallBusiness hashtag + “in support of” unpaid tag
🔹 Facebook Avatars rolling out in the US
🔹 Switch to New Facebook or revert back to Classic Facebook

INSTAGRAM
🔸 Watch Instagram Live on desktop
🔸 Save IG Live to IGTV (soon)
🔸 Support Small Business sticker on IG Stories
🔸 Pin favorite comment on your IG posts
🔸 Bulk delete IG comments
🔸 New tag/mention controls on IG

Mari Smith also did a fantastic recap of all the unique ways to use these new functions and features for your personal gain and business successes. Check it out here.

Virtual platforms have existed for years, but the COVID quarantine has certainly done a number to innovate and expedite upgrades to some of our favorite platforms’ features.

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg made a bunch of announcements via his own Facebook Live, and we’ve recapped them for you here!

👉Charge for access to Facebook or IG Live events 

This is fantastic for the small businesses hosting their own virtual events, workshops, or live-streaming fitness classes… and beyond. You no longer need to arrange for a 3rd party streaming app to pipe your users into. You will be able to link a paid option to your Facebook event and VIOLA!

The best part, you don’t even need a Facebook account to participate.

---

👉Multi-person Facebook Live

Facebook took away the option a while back to have others join you when you go Live on Facebook, (like on Instagram Live) so you can have a 2-way conversation, or “Live With”. Well, it’s coming back so you can host interviews Q&As or simply share the screen with a friend!

---

👉50+ person video chat via Facebook Messenger Rooms (think ZOOM)

These new messenger rooms will help facilitate larger group chats and events, similar to a Zoom Call.

---

👉Instagram Live from your Desktop

If you’ve ever gone LIVE on Instagram, you know it’s tough because you can only do so from your mobile. Well, that is soon changing and you will have access from your desktop too. Move over DM’s, you’re getting another desktop friend – IG Live!

And, for even better news you will be able to save your IG Live to your IGTV for later viewing and make it even easier to find.

---

👉Virtual video DATES on Facebook!?

It’s true. You can now host a VIDEO date via “Facebook Dating” for those lonely nights at home. Pop the bubbles and sit back and find your match.

The releases were announced last week and Zuckerberg said they would be rolling out “very soon”.

You can read more here! https://about.fb.com/news/2020/04/introducing-messenger-rooms/