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Facebook Expands Live Broadcasting Features, Opening Door For Ads

Facebook ( FB ) is bolstering its Live streaming video platform, which should provide more space for advertising to fuel revenue growth. Facebook Live is a platform for mobile-device users to broadcast live video streams on the world’s largest social network. Facebook recently expanded the Live feature to all users, following an exclusive arrangement with celebrities and other public figures. “People are letting their friends discover their hobbies. Parents are using it to share moments in their kids’ lives with their extended families. Athletes are giving people a window into their training. Chefs are bringing their fans into their kitchen,” wrote Fidji Simo, Facebook product management director, in a blog post . The new features include the ability to broadcast only to select groups, such as family. Users can also schedule a live broadcast through Facebook’s Events tab or send out invitations for people to watch. Other features include the ability to add filters that could, for instance, broadcast in black and white. Viewers can also add emoticons to the video feed in order to give a sense of how they feel at different points in the video. There’s also a page dedicated to live broadcasts that people can search. Facebook also rolled out tools that allow broadcasters to see how many people are watching their videos, either live or archived, when they watch and for how long. The tools could be especially valuable for business owners and advertisers. Facebook did not say if it would place advertising on the video feeds but didn’t rule it out. Historically, Facebook has introduced new ad-free platforms, then gradually inserted ads down the road. Speculation is rising that Facebook will open its Messenger chat service to content publishers and ads, creating a multibillion-dollar revenue opportunity and posing a growing threat to Alphabet ( GOOGL ). Facebook Live is comparable to the Twitter ( TWTR ) Periscope app, which launched last year and has logged more than 100 million broadcasts. Twitter has integrated Periscope into the Twitter app feed. The new Live features will be rolled out on the Apple ( AAPL ) iOS and Alphabet Android over the coming weeks. “We’ve been humbled by all the amazing and creative ways that people have used Facebook Live so far, and we’re committed to creating the best experience for everyone who wants to create, watch and interact with live videos on Facebook,” Simo wrote. Facebook stock was up 1% in midday trading on the stock market today , near 113.

Amazon.com Has Likely Sold 3 Million Echo Speakers To Date

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) seems to have a hit product on its hands with the Amazon Echo smart speaker. The e-commerce giant is estimated to have sold 3 million units of the device in the U.S. since it went on sale in late 2014, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reported Wednesday. Amazon likely sold 1 million Echo devices during just the holiday shopping season in late 2015, CIRP said. Echo is a voice-responsive Internet query device and household controller, as well as a high-end streaming music speaker. Awareness of Amazon Echo among U.S. Amazon customers more than doubled during the year, CIRP said. By the end of 2015, 47% of Amazon’s U.S. customers were aware of Echo, up from 20% in March 2015, the Chicago-based research firm said. “Amazon very carefully but aggressively promoted Amazon Echo during the year,” Josh Lowitz, partner and co-founder of CIRP, said in a statement. “It dedicated Amazon.com homepage real estate to Echo, promoted it on Amazon Prime Day in July, and also advertised it heavily during the holiday shopping season. This effort paid off, as it stood out among Amazon customers.” Amazon also promoted Echo with a Super Bowl commercial this year starring Alec Baldwin. CIRP bases its findings on regular surveys of Amazon customers. In March, Amazon added two more devices that use its Alexa voice-control personal assistance, in addition to Echo. They were the Echo Dot, a smaller hands-free voice-controlled device, and the Amazon Tap, a smart portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker. Echo costs $179.99, while Echo Dot costs $89.99, and Amazon Tap costs $129.99. Amazon’s Alexa technology competes with other voice-response digital assistants, like Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) Siri and Microsoft ‘s ( MSFT ) Cortana.

WhatsApp Just Added End-To-End Encryption For Over 1 Billion Users

The Apple ( AAPL )-FBI over iPhone privacy is so last month. While the FBI may have cracked the smartphone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists, Facebook ( FB ) unit WhatsApp on Wednesday launched end-to-end encryption. More than one billion people use Facebook’s WhatApp. WhatsApp founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum  explained how the system will work in a blog post. “From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats. The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us.” That means that WhatsApp couldn’t help governments crack your messages even if it wanted to. The app will work for the Apple iPhone, as well as smartphones using Alphabet-owned Google Android software or any other mobile device. Koum, who is WhatsApp’s CEO and a former Yahoo ( YHOO ) employee along with Acton, cited his childhood in the communist Soviet Union as key to his “desire to protect people’s private communication.” Facebook stock fell 0.3% to 112.22 in the stock market today . The stock is near a buy point of 117.69, which would be a new high. Facebook could be forming a handle that would create a slightly lower buy area. Apple fell 1.2% to 109.80 Tuesday after crossing above its 200-day line Monday and failing to close above that level. Alphabet fell 0.8% to 758.67, below a buy point at 810.45. Yahoo retreated 1.65%.