Facebook Live now lets anyone broadcast from a desktop PC

Facebook Live streaming is ready to break out of its mobile confines. The social network today announced that anyone can now livestream from a desktop PC to their followers. This has been supported for Pages for some time, but now anyone can take part in streaming over Facebook Live without going mobile.

You can simply use the webcam built into your computer to go live, or, Facebook notes, you can tap into external hardware and streaming software. The result should be much smoother and higher quality streams than have been available over Facebook's streaming platform to date. All you have to do to get started is select the "Live Video" option from the top of your news feed.

Lastly, in a nod to potential future efforts to take on the likes of Twitch and Beam, Facebook has acknowledged Live's potential as a game streaming platform. With the ability to share screens and insert graphics, it looks like Facebook is hoping to at least make streamers think about adding Facebook to their list of potential streaming platforms.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl