While Facebook Live may be popular among certain brands, the jury’s still out among the social network’s regular users.
Facebook pays media outlets and celebrities to create live videos, but others aren’t incentivized to use it. Facebook (FB) is hoping to change that by adding “Live Masks,” Snapchat-like lenses that allow users to use special effects during broadcasts. The masks are currently available on Facebook’s iOS mobile app in the U.S., U.K., and New Zealand, and it will soon make its way to Android, Business Insider reports.
The company likely thinks that Live Masks will help encourage individuals to start using the live video feature since Snapchat has seen similar success with its lenses and filters. Snapchat’s lenses, particularly sponsored lenses, have helped the 10-second video app reach quickly grow its valuation to $20 billion.
As Chris Cox, Facebook’s head of product, said during the Wall Street Journal‘s tech conference earlier this week, Facebook wants to make the camera “a creative tool,” meaning we can likely expect more updates like this one in the near future. “It’s an area of work we’re really invested in, which is making it easy for the camera to be an early application of [Augmented Reality],” Cox said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg added that live videos would soon implement another new feature—lenses that imitate styles of famous paintings.