Facebook Launches Live Stream For All Websites And Developers

Remeber CNN’s live stream of the inauguration? How about the TNT’s live stream of the NBA All Star game? All services implemented the Facebook Connect-enabled live stream widget and now all websited and developers can have a version of their own. Later today Facebook will announce details about this new feature which will make it easy for instant conversations to take place across the web.

Ultimately the Live Stream Box is not just for live streaming events but that’s what it’s intended for. Facebook has released instructions about how to embed the service into your site or application. What’s most impressive about this stream is that as Facebook states, “the Live Stream Box can handle a very substantial load, supporting millions of simultaneous users.”

One downside of using the Live Stream Box is that content posted to it will not be archived or accessible for any APIs. Essentially it’s a one-use chat room that you can throw away at a later point. The benefit of implementing it is that is should increase the level of engagement on your site and increase the amount of time that users are staying. Implementing the service is relatively easy for anybody with basic knowledge of HTML and Javascript.

By adding the following lines of code to your website, you’ll be able to get the live stream implemented:

<script src="http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php" type="text/javascript"></script>
<fb:live-stream width="<widthInPixels>" height="<heightInPixels>"></fb:live-stream>
<script type="text/javascript">
FB.init("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE", "<path from web root>/xd_receiver.htm");
</script>

While you’ll also need to add the xml name space that references Facebook’s markup language, it should be relatively painless. I’ve gone ahead and embedded a version of the live stream widget within this post.

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631518 Comments2009-06-24+19%3A23%3A29Nick+O%27Neill »

sounds hot

Comment by Johann Rodríg — June 24, 2009 @ 11:43 am
Can't say that I like the fact that the live stream updates my profile on FB. Would rather just be in a chat and not annoy my friends with constant chatter from a live interaction I'm taking part in.

Comment by Facebook User — June 24, 2009 @ 12:25 pm
what do you think about SEO & if this would help in increasing your blog comments ranking?? I don't think spiders will take this in considerations

Comment by Ahmed Metwally — June 24, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
i agree with the 2nd comment, but im sure facebook will put more options soon to just put the status inside the live stream itself rather than your fb profile

Comment by Daniel Adams — June 24, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
Idea

How about making your Livestream Widget permanent and put it in the right hand sidebar

Comment by Jamie Ellis — June 24, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
It looks like a great feature for FB Connect sites… a little less useful for FB Apps. You can't get rid of the blue FB bar with Privacy and Logout on it (which obviously isn't necessary if you are looking at it in an App in FB. Also, no way to limit whether it posts to a user's status (as noted above) and no way to access status updates once they are off the page (almost like accessing a transcript of the "conversation"). Both would be very valuable features.

Comment by Varsity Outreach — June 24, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
wow!!! so this great news! websites can use it to get more traffic to their websites

Comment by Facebook Marketing — June 24, 2009 @ 8:43 pm
so beauty info! thank a lot

Comment by tarsim,an — June 25, 2009 @ 2:06 am
it's great thing but can i put it to my blog n how? thanks for u'r info.

Comment by Tarsiman Wiryakusuma — June 25, 2009 @ 2:16 am
Love it, just integrate it to my site, anyone knows how can we delete unwated posts?

take a llok
http://www.miniroommaker.com/rooms.html

Comment by Anabella Parmigiano — June 25, 2009 @ 11:47 am
This is huge! Neat summary! You could have conversation of your community by putting it as a permanant widget on your site.

Nick, it will be helpful if you share details on how to embed this in different types of blogs like a wordpress.com, hosted wp, blogger etc.

Comment by Sudha Jamthe — June 25, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
a 3rd party Twitter service called Tweetboard has this concept in alpha
http://mashable.com/2009/06/26/tweetboard/

Comment by Jamie Ellis — June 26, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
how to delete this "This is a sample of what everyone watching is saying"?

Comment by zahidayat — July 7, 2009 @ 4:25 am
I think this is a hot feature. However, I don't like how it updates the profile status. I hope facebook implements the option to leave the status in the stream only. It does create a lot of chatter updates that are not necessary.

Comment by Destiny Davis — July 23, 2009 @ 6:51 am
How do you Un-Ban a User?

Comment by tmadison — March 11, 2010 @ 6:50 am
@tmadison, I'm wondering the same thing… I just tried out the ban user to test and realized I can't unban the user!

Comment by BV — April 24, 2010 @ 2:22 pm
[...] you have more options if you want to use the same service that Facebook uses to broadcast live streams of meetings and presentations on the social network: [...]

Pingback by Livestreaming Made Easier For Page Admins — November 12, 2010 @ 10:53 am
I think this is a hot feature. However, I don't like how it updates the profile status. I hope facebook implements the option to leave the status in the stream only. It does create a lot of chatter updates that are not necessary.

Comment by its.joshua — July 26, 2011 @ 10:15 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

sounds hot

Comment by Johann Rodríg — June 24, 2009 @ 11:43 am

Can't say that I like the fact that the live stream updates my profile on FB. Would rather just be in a chat and not annoy my friends with constant chatter from a live interaction I'm taking part in.

Comment by Facebook User — June 24, 2009 @ 12:25 pm

what do you think about SEO & if this would help in increasing your blog comments ranking?? I don't think spiders will take this in considerations

Comment by Ahmed Metwally — June 24, 2009 @ 12:37 pm

i agree with the 2nd comment, but im sure facebook will put more options soon to just put the status inside the live stream itself rather than your fb profile

Comment by Daniel Adams — June 24, 2009 @ 12:46 pm

Idea

How about making your Livestream Widget permanent and put it in the right hand sidebar

Comment by Jamie Ellis — June 24, 2009 @ 5:30 pm

It looks like a great feature for FB Connect sites… a little less useful for FB Apps. You can't get rid of the blue FB bar with Privacy and Logout on it (which obviously isn't necessary if you are looking at it in an App in FB. Also, no way to limit whether it posts to a user's status (as noted above) and no way to access status updates once they are off the page (almost like accessing a transcript of the "conversation"). Both would be very valuable features.

Comment by Varsity Outreach — June 24, 2009 @ 8:26 pm

wow!!! so this great news! websites can use it to get more traffic to their websites

Comment by Facebook Marketing — June 24, 2009 @ 8:43 pm

so beauty info! thank a lot

Comment by tarsim,an — June 25, 2009 @ 2:06 am

it's great thing but can i put it to my blog n how? thanks for u'r info.

Comment by Tarsiman Wiryakusuma — June 25, 2009 @ 2:16 am

Love it, just integrate it to my site, anyone knows how can we delete unwated posts?

take a llok
http://www.miniroommaker.com/rooms.html

Comment by Anabella Parmigiano — June 25, 2009 @ 11:47 am

This is huge! Neat summary! You could have conversation of your community by putting it as a permanant widget on your site.

Nick, it will be helpful if you share details on how to embed this in different types of blogs like a wordpress.com, hosted wp, blogger etc.

Comment by Sudha Jamthe — June 25, 2009 @ 12:50 pm

a 3rd party Twitter service called Tweetboard has this concept in alpha
http://mashable.com/2009/06/26/tweetboard/

Comment by Jamie Ellis — June 26, 2009 @ 9:55 pm

how to delete this "This is a sample of what everyone watching is saying"?

Comment by zahidayat — July 7, 2009 @ 4:25 am

I think this is a hot feature. However, I don't like how it updates the profile status. I hope facebook implements the option to leave the status in the stream only. It does create a lot of chatter updates that are not necessary.

Comment by Destiny Davis — July 23, 2009 @ 6:51 am

How do you Un-Ban a User?

Comment by tmadison — March 11, 2010 @ 6:50 am

@tmadison, I'm wondering the same thing… I just tried out the ban user to test and realized I can't unban the user!

Comment by BV — April 24, 2010 @ 2:22 pm

[...] you have more options if you want to use the same service that Facebook uses to broadcast live streams of meetings and presentations on the social network: [...]

Pingback by Livestreaming Made Easier For Page Admins — November 12, 2010 @ 10:53 am

Comment by its.joshua — July 26, 2011 @ 10:15 am