Zuckerberg Has Buggy Facebook "Live" Debut, Says the Service is Great for Watching Haircuts
“Um, hey, hold on a second...”
Facebook gave the world the ability to broadcast live video from its app on Wednesday. Soon afterwards, the company’s CEO gave a real-life example of why broadcasting is tough, before getting back on track to explain his vision for the new service.
Earlier that day, Mark Zuckerberg posted up a picture on his wall announcing that Facebook Live is now officially available for all. Users were invited to check back around 10:30 a.m. PST to hear the man himself talk about the happenings with his company’s newest creation.
This was to be Zuckerberg’s debut in front of Facebook Live’s new, global audience.
A few minutes after the scheduled time, Zuckerberg appeared to his followers, grinning, sitting on a sofa inside a glass office. “Um, hey, hold on a second,” he said, before standing up from the sofa, going behind the camera, and whispering, “Can you kill it?” The video then ended without explanation.
An hour later, Zuckerberg reappeared. This time, he was in the Live room, sitting on the desks of the team that made the feed possible. “We’re excited to bring this superpower to everyone in our community,” he declared, as employees around him tried to keep their eyes down and carry on working.
Zuckerberg took the time to outline some of the use cases he envisions for the service. “I saw live the other day, somebody who was getting a haircut,” he laughed to himself. “But it’s live, and you don’t know what’s gonna happen, and it’s like, is the barber gonna mess it up, is it gonna turn out well for him? And he’s just getting this feedback, people are commenting on it, and he’s just having the time of his life.”
Beyond barbershop broadcasts, Zuckerberg said that he saw the service as a possible new outlet for artists and performers. The company is working on a business model for these uses, but the CEO didn’t expand further. The service could also be used for journalism purposes: Zuckerberg noted how Jorge Ramos from Univision had used Facebook Live to carry on broadcasting after a power cut hit the station.
Zuckerberg took questions live as they came into the comment box, saying how you never quite know what’s going to happen next with live feeds. With that said, maybe the odd hiccup his Live broadcast suffered was all part of the fun.
