Facebook Mentions, the app that allowed verified users on Facebook broadcast livestreams was officially launched last year in September after being released to a select group of users in August. It signalled Facebook’s entry to the video livestream category which was dominated by the likes of Twitter’s Periscope and YouTube.
Facebook launched this feature in phases that started with famous celebrities and later on to all verified Pages. In order to start this broadcasts, you were required to have Facebook Mentions which was only available for iOS. Now Facebook has released the Android app version and it follows the same script where it will only work with verified users.
It is a large app (87MB) but all Facebook apps are huge so no surprises there. The layout is very simple as shown below.
It greets you with a simple layout with 2 options: ‘Get Started’ and ‘What is Mentions?’ with a photo montage at the background. If you are a verified page, you just need to tap ‘Get Started’ and sign in with your Page name. Tapping on ‘What is Mentions’ will give you more information about the app.
As a recap, Facebook Mentions allows a company or an individual with a verified page to create a live broadcast, engaging with the fans in the broadcast, sharing the videos on Facebook and also to Twitter and Instagram. Previously if you were not able to create livestreams on Facebook due to the lack of an iOS device, you can now go ahead and download it on the Google PlayStore