Is Facebook Planning Its Own Video Streaming App? Survey Suggests Interest

Is Facebook looking to jump into the live-video stream?

Up to now, the social network has sat on the sidelines while first Meerkat, then Twitter-owned Periscope launched services that enable people to quickly live-stream moments with mobile devices. Facebook has stuck with recorded video with famously outstanding results; in April the company reported an average of 4 billion views a day, and there’s no evidence that Facebook video is any less popular today.

But there is some evidence that Facebook could be kicking the tires on a live-streaming service of its own.

Recently a Marketing Land editor received an emailed survey from Facebook that included detailed questions about his viewing of live-streaming video. The survey started with general queries about online video viewing but quickly shifted to focus on live-streaming preferences.

Of course, Facebook regularly does market research, so the existence of this survey doesn’t prove the company is working on a Meerkat-Periscope competitor. But it’s a pretty clear indication that Facebook is keeping close watch on how the audience is reacting to streaming video.

We emailed Facebook for comment and will update this post if the company responds.