MENLO PARK, CALIF. & OGDEN, UTAH--Facebook has hired the seven-person team at social media video developer Vidpresso to enhance interactive elements of its Facebook Live streaming service.
Vidpresso is a six-year old based startup in Ogden, Utah that helps broadcasters and businesses deploy video on social media. Broadcasters, including KSL, KTXL, NBC and Univision along with Buzzfeed, Turner Sports, Nasdaq and TED use its Vidpresso:LIVE platform to adds real-time chats, polling and relevant data from Facebook Twitter, and other social media networks during live broadcasts. CBS was among its earliest customers when it used Vidpresso to display social media posts during the 2013 and 2014 Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day Parades.
Facebook did not buy the company outright, according to TechCrunch, but did acquire the company's IP and its staff will be joining Facebook at its offices in Menlo Park, Calif., London and Los Angeles. In a blog post, the company said it will be business as usual for the time being.
“We will continue to help creators, publishers, and broadcasters create great live experiences, and focus on what we’re best known for: Enabling world-class interactive streams on Facebook Live,” the company said. “Our customers who currently use the product will continue to be able to do so following our transition to Facebook.”
The company added that joining Facebook will give them “the best opportunity to accelerate our vision and offer a simple way for creators, publishers, and broadcasters to use social media in live video at a high quality level. We've always wanted to build tools for everyone to create interactive live video experiences.
“By joining Facebook we’ll be able to offer our tools to a much broader audience than just our A-list publishing partners,” they added. “Eventually, it’ll allow us to put these tools in the hands of creators, so they can focus on their content, and have it look great, without spending lots of time or money to do so.”
Since it was launched three years ago, Facebook Live has hosted more than 3.5 billion broadcasts an more than 150 billion reactions to Live video.
