Live video has made Facebook the place to be - CNET

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What a difference two years make.

Back then, when live video apps like Periscope and Meerkat arrived on mobile phones, live video seemed like a lark for tech nerds and poor college students looking to watch cable TV for free. But within months, protesters in Ferguson, Missouri tapped into the shaky and visceral feel of live video because they understand they can share the emotion of breaking news events with observers who might otherwise just get the news through photos and news cameras.

Fast forward to March, when Facebook began giving anyone with a phone and inteet connection an easy way to broadcast live video, straight to the 1.13 billion people who use its service every day. Since then, Facebook Live has been tapped into for major events, from the Democrat's gun vote sit-in in June to the shooting deaths of Philando Castile and five Dallas policers this month.

In each case, live video was key to telling the story. And it's what more traditional cable broadcast networks replayed in a near-endless loop as they recapped those unfolding stories.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described these live video feeds, captured and broadcast from phones, as "graphic and heartbreaking."