Facebook Live: App to get special button for streams, replacing Messenger tab

The company is said to be ‘obsessed’ with encouraging people to livestream through the app,, and is even going so far as to swap it for one of its most important features

Social media is a very different experience for the visually impaired (Rex)

Facebook is introducing a huge new redesign for its mobile app in an attempt to get more people to livestream their lives.

The company is replacing its Messenger tab with a live stream one, to try and use more people to encourage people to use the feature. That new tab will now sit in the middle of the app, bringing up further buttons to find streams and start sending them from users’ own phones.

Facebook Live was introduced last summer, soon after apps like Periscope and Meerkat began a trend for mobile livestreams. The tool allows people to send out live video using their phone’s camera, and have it appear on their friends’ timelines.

The redesign is coming with a huge set of changes to the live streaming feature that have come alongside opening it up to all users of the service. Those new changes include new filters for live streams and new ways of finding people in the local area who are hosting them.

Facebook is said to be increasingly set on encouraging more people to use the live streaming feature. That has included leaning on celebrities to ask them to use the tool and paying for some broadcasts, according to reports.