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Facebook Ready To Let Android Users Also Get A Close-Up

Pushing deeper into streaming video, Facebook ( FB ) is expanding its live-video feature to users of Android devices, having launched the feature for Apple ( AAPL ) iPhone users in December. Facebook initially began allowing live video on Apple devices in the U.S. only but has since expanded to 30 countries. In a blog post Friday, Facebook said that it will roll out Live to Alphabet ( GOOGL ) Android users next week in the U.S., with more countries coming soon. The live-video feature lets mobile users share experiences in real time. On average, Facebook said, people watch a live video more than three times longer than other video. Facebook is increasingly expanding its video-sharing prowess. When Facebook reported fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 27, it said that people watch more than 100 million hours of video daily on Facebook. More than 500 million of its 1.6 billion users watch video daily. The addition of live video streaming for Apple and now Android users on mobile devices will boost views. Video is an integral element of Facebook’s revenue growth. Analysts see Facebook benefiting from such revenue drivers as video ads, a larger share of digital and traditional ads, and increasing monetization of its Instagram video- and photo-sharing site, which also has video ads. This month, Facebook announced that it had doubled the length of video ads on Instagram to 60 seconds. Facebook derives more than 96% of total revenue from advertising, with video ads commanding higher prices than other ads. Citing high expectations of revenue growth from video ads and Instagram ads, Rosenblatt Securities on Tuesday reiterated its buy rating on the social networking leader. The Live feature is an extension of a live broadcast channel that Facebook began offering in August for celebrities to interact with fans. That offering came months after Meerkat and Twitter ’s ( TWTR ) Periscope, two video apps, were launched for general use. Facebook wants to make sure that users don’t switch to Twitter for big events or Q&As. Besides Twitter, Facebook competes with Alphabet, Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Apple for online advertising. Facebook stock was down a fraction in early-afternoon trading in the stock market today , as was Alphabet. Apple stock up a fraction and Twitter up 1.5%.

Facebook Looks Beyond ‘Like’ With ‘Angry’ Button, A Brand Strategy

Facebook ( FB ) has unveiled a new feature that lets its users show how they really feel about posts or ads on the site. Instead of a plain vanilla “Like” in reaction to a post or ad, users of Facebook’s new Reactions feature can add faces that emote “Like,” “Love,” “Haha,” “Wow,” “Sad” or “Angry.” The move adding more expressive emojis comes as Facebook is competing against Apple ( AAPL ), Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), microblog Twitter ( TWTR ) and others to attract more advertisers. Advertisers and brands have said that extending a wider range of reactions will give advertisers a better understanding of what Facebook users think. Armed with that knowledge, brands can improve targeting and deliver better ads. “They’ll provide greater feedback,” J.R. Rigley, president and CMO at packaged-goods company J.R. Watkins, said about the expanded sentiment options last fall, according to AdWeek . “We will know more about how viewers feel about the brand, which could be helpful to us. The con is that they might not like the content. But some of that could be good, too.” The Reactions sentiment-options feature had been in testing since October in Ireland and Spain, and was made available to all Facebook’s 1.59 billion users globally on Wednesday. “We’ve been listening to people and know that there should be more ways to easily and quickly express how something you see in News Feed makes you feel. That’s why today we are launching Reactions, an extension of the Like button, to give you more ways to share your reaction to a post in a quick and easy way,” wrote Facebook product manager Sami Krug in a blog post on Wednesday. To add a reaction, users must hold down the “Like” button on their mobile device — or hover above the “Like” button on a desktop computer to see the reaction image options — then tap buttons to add one of the expanded range of emojis. Early this month, Facebook announced that it had doubled the length of video ads on Instagram to 60 seconds, and Wednesday revealed that it has over 200,000 advertisers on the photo- and video-sharing service. Facebook derives more than 96% of total revenue from advertising, with video ads deriving a premium price. Facebook has about 2.5 million advertisers overall, of which 75% are outside the U.S. Facebook stock lifted from a morning dip to close up 1.4% in the stock market today , at 106.88. Apple stock closed up 1.5%. Alphabet and Microsoft rose fractionally and Twitter stock dropped 1.6%. A top-rated big-cap tech stock, Facebook carries the highest IBD Composite Rating of 99, putting it among the top 1% of all companies across key metrics such as revenue and earnings growth and stock-price gains.

Facebook Hits Milestone With Advertisers On Instagram

Facebook ( FB ) revealed Wednesday that it has more than 200,000 advertisers on Instagram, its video- and photo-sharing site, which began testing ads three years ago. Analysts have kept a close watch on Instagram as a key revenue growth leg for the social media leader, with estimates that revenue from the site could hit $1 billion this year, or about 10% of Facebook’s total. Facebook has been cautious but methodical in rolling out ads on Instagram, as the company says its priority is user experience over revenue. But Facebook has also continued to work with large advertisers and ad agencies. In September, Facebook announced it was boosting efforts to cash in on Instagram with an aggressive expansion of advertising and better analytics and measurement guidelines. It only began introducing video ads on Instagram in Q3 2015. Instagram now has more than 400 million users, up from 300 million last December. Facebook paid about $1 billion to acquire Instagram in 2012. Facebook has about 2.5 million advertisers overall, of which 75% are outside the U.S. Early this month, Facebook announced that it had  doubled the length of video ads on Instagram to 60 seconds. Facebook derives more than 96% of total revenue from advertising, with video ads deriving a premium price. Facebook competes with Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and others to attract more advertisers. Facebook is also expected to introduce ads on its messaging platforms, WhatsApp and Messenger, down the road. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in the company’s Q4 earnings call late last month, suggested that ads on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which now has 800 million users, are in the works . Image provided by Shutterstock .