Celebrities wishing to enhance their following and connect with their fans might soon get paid by the Facebook Live video streaming service for the privilege.
Giving YouTube one more reason to worry about Facebook and its video service, the social media platform is reportedly reaching out to Hollywood celebrities and other people of fame to broadcast themselves on its Facebook Live streaming video service. Apparently, they might even pay some of said celebrities for appearing on the service.
According to a report by Re/Code , Facebook has made attempts to recruit famous people in the past to use part of its service; however, this is the first time money has been brought into the mix. While the Facebook Live video streaming service isn’t, reportedly, offering huge sums of money, this is still pretty much a big deal for a company that previously kept away from licensing content or paying its creators.
The Facebook Live service initially opened up to celebrities last summer and is now in CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s sights as a major project. It all sounds pretty serious, as apparently the social media company has already sent Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to Los Angeles this week to chat up various talent agencies about the new plans.
Facebook fights Periscope by showing Live videos higher than saved streams https://t.co/JqTvECXLal pic.twitter.com/Qy9UQHwKSz
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) March 2, 2016
According to a source, initially Sandberg is attempting to sign up a small group of test subjects to the Facebook Live service and is looking for around 100 people to actively use the service on a regular basis. She will also, reportedly, offer some of that group some kind of payment for participating.
Facebook’s thinking is that, in the long term, the Live service will generate some good ad revenue and reportedly rather than paying the celebrities directly, Facebook will share the ad revenue with the people who generate it, much in the same way YouTube pays individual content creators. Currently, Facebook Live does not offer advertising, but it is a definite plan for the future.
This fact was disclosed by Re/Code, as reportedly that article’s writer has a relative who is a project manager at Facebook. However, since then a representative for Facebook has confirmed that the meetings are, in fact, happening.
The representative says the social media company is investing in live video, as they think it will be a great fit for Facebook. According to the rep, more people are choosing to watch and share live video on Facebook Live these days, and management is just starting to understand its potential.
“To that end, we’re testing different ways to support partners so they begin experimenting with Facebook Live. We’ll be working closely with these partners to learn from them how we can build the best Facebook Live experience and explore with them potential monetization models.”
What better to enhance and promote their Facebook Live video service than to incorporate some of the most popular celebrities? Reportedly one person who has heard Facebook’s pitch got the impression that the social media platform may offer six-figure sums to a few famous people.
Facebook may pay some celebrities to use its Live streaming service https://t.co/jZ30Z1GgGY by @pkafka pic.twitter.com/WszS9ljsXu
— Re/code (@Recode) March 1, 2016
Reportedly, it’s not just the Oscar red carpet type of celebrity that is of interest to the new project, as Facebook Live plans to target various well known comedians to join the service too.
As reported by Tech Crunch , Twitter might get a little worried as the service progresses with celebrities on board, as the new Facebook Live video streaming service may impact Twitter’s Periscope live-streaming product. The reason is that Facebook currently ranks streaming Live videos higher in the news feed than those in the saved streams. The service also allows users to permanently save and show off their live streams to their friends and followers, rather than deleting them 24 hours later like Periscope.
And, of course, as mentioned above, YouTube might start biting its digital nails if the Facebook Live service really takes off.
Readers, would you enjoy seeing your favorite celebrities streaming live on the Facebook Live feed? Let us know in the comments section below.