How Facebook Live Video Might Kill Talk Radio

Facebook recently rolled out a new a feature that allows individuals and brands to stream live video directly into their followers' feed. While this feature—available to anyone with a Facebook account from their PC or mobile device—may have been a reaction to the rise of Periscope, Twitter's once-upon-a-buzz selfie-broadcasting app, Facebook live video might be able to slay a far more entrenched media goliath: Talk radio.

First, let's talk about how people use Facebook. The still-reigning king of social is an extremely versatile and helpful virtual town square. A 2014 survey of US adults found that users spend an average of 42 minutes per day on Facebook, while those aged 18-29 spend an average of 51 minutes daily. Those aren't TV/radio numbers quite yet (TV still demands around five hours of users' daily time on average while radio brings in about two hours per day), but that's still extremely impressive in today's fractured digital mediascape.  (As a point of comparison, Snapchat recently woo-hoo'd the fact that it demands 25-30 minutes of attention each day.)

And keep in mind, the above numbers don't account for Facebook's potential reach. The fact that most of us don't spend TV-esque hours on Facebook probably owes more to the fact that there simply isn't compelling enough content to keep us engaged for long stretches of time—say, like a movie or TV show.

When looking at the future of media, it's important to note how ubiquitous the Internet is now. Omnipresent data networks in conjunction with increasingly brawny mobile devices can deliver high-bandwidth content anywhere. Your cousin live streaming his fresh dance moves through his iPhone is—in most cases—just as accessible as some talk show on terrestrial radio. Thanks to technology, just about anything can be a broadcast network.

Of course, doomsayers have long predicted how new technologies would supplant ol' dependable terrestrial broadcasts (the long list of failed assassins include Internet and satellite radio, iTunes, and podcasts, just to name a few). Through it all, terrestrial radio has still managed to putter along; in fact it's thriving by some estimates.

While I might very well be embarking on a fool's errand of adding yet another hot new technology to the line of would-be disruptors, there are at least three things that Facebook's live broadcasts have going for them: 1) They're live (duh), which is not the case with other digital mediums like podcasts; 2) They deliver content directly to Facebook feeds, where people's eyeballs are anyway; and 3) They're interactive in a way that other mass-communication mediums can't match.

We here at PCMag have been actively experimenting with the medium with a lineup of daily and weekly programming. Like most Web brands, we've offered on-demand video content for years, but I for one am particularly excited about the ways that live Facebook videos foster an interactive conversation with the audience. Perhaps the most analogous form of media is the call-in radio chat show (Facebook live videos just happen to have a visual component).

Of course, there have been interactive Web shows for years, but few have made any genuine cultural impact. These shows have often required users to navigate to an unfamiliar Web environment. There was a barrier of unfamiliarity and as a result, very few have taken off (YouTube hosts live programs, but I've never actually watched one). Facebook live shows on the other hand already live in a familiar comfortable environment. The barrier has been removed.

While this new medium is still very early in its development, it already shows a lot of promise. Facebook recently announced a slew of additional features for live Facebook videos, including its own dedicated tab in the mobile app. It will be very interesting to see how things develop from there.

There is one place where talk radio will continue to have a leg-up over Facebook videos in regards to interactive mass communication (at least, for the time being): Those who commute by car. But traditional broadcast mediums should take note—you no longer have the game to yourself.