Recent announcements by Facebook will greatly change the event landscape.

  • Live API. Facebook announced opening its Live API to developers. Some partners will initially have access to it.
  • Facebook Surround 360. This is a 360, 3D video capture system. It is a special camera specifically made to capture three dimensional video. The news is that it is an open source project.
  • 10 Year Roadmap. Zuckerberg announced the vision for the next ten years, that included 3D livestreaming and augmented reality.

Why Does is Matter?

One of the most important items to look at and that most commentators are ignoring is the role of social media in events. Up until now Twitter has been the most event-centric social network. Due to its real time nature, Twitter has been the go-to resource to learn about events online.

If you work in the event industry and use social media for your events, you should start considering live video now. The future of social looks very visual and live video seems to be the protagonist of the next few years. If you look at one of the strongest social networks in terms of growth at the moment, Snapchat, one of the most exciting features for events is the ability to collect recorded video from attendees.

This Is Not Marketing, This is Social

Facebook is creating a suite of tools to connect audiences from all over the world on one platform. It is taking away the crankiness and awkwardness from hybrid events.

It looks like within the next 10 years we will laugh at how ridiculous holograms looked as we will be able to attend events live as if we are sitting in the actual room, or have the keynote present in our living room.

So What Does The Future Look Like?

It is one thing to add a static camera in a room and say that remote audiences are involved. It is another to create three dimensional experiences where remote attendees are part of the room, can meet other attendees, have preferred seats and listen to the performers as if they were in the front row.

The big news is that the video technology is now open sourced. The community will be able to chime in and work collectively on growing capabilities. This was one of the strongest assets of Twitter (the community, despite it never been open) that helped it’s growth in its first 3 years. The community makes things grow fast.

How Do I Get Ready?

You don’t have to change anything in the way you do your social today. But you need to start looking at Live, livestreaming tools in general and specifically Crowdstreaming, and the future of social media.

There are quick wins in using Live to engage with your event audience, give them access to performers or special areas of your event. These are great tools to market your event better, yes. Your attention though should be strategically positioned to look at the bigger picture.

Happy planning!