Facebook Live to get personal on the public platform

The new features give more of a one-to-one feel to the Facebook experience.

ByABC News
May 23, 2017, 4:55 PM

— -- When Facebook made its Facebook Live feature available around the world in 2016, it gave users the ability to simulate spending time with friends regardless of how far the actual distance between them.

Now, the social-networking company has added a few new features to make the live encounters even more personal.

Facebook today unveiled "Live Chat with Friends" and "Live With." Both features will add a bit of a one-on-one feel to the Facebook Live experience.

“Live Chat with Friends” allows users to hold a private chat with a buddy while watching a live feed on a public broadcast. "You're able to jump back into the public conversation at any time, and you can still continue chatting via Messenger after the broadcast ends," explained Facebook in a post. This feature is currently being tested on mobile platforms in select regions around the world and will be available to all Facebook users in the summer.

“Live With” allows users to hang out with their friends via live video from anywhere. Users can share their screen with a friend to create more individual interaction. Even though this launched last year to allow public figures to go live with a guest, it's now available for all profiles and pages on IOS, according to the social-networking service.

Facebook has said it aims to make its user experience more interactive and recently launched augmented reality effects for its camera and Facebook Live features.

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