Facebook’s Interactive Map, first introduced in April, has just gone global. The feature allows users to view live streams from any user in the world, from Greenland to North Korea, turning every Facebook into a voyeur.

For now, the Interactive Map is only available through Facebook on Web. It can be accessed by pressing the “Live Video” button on the navigation bar. An interactive map of the world will pop up, on which little blue dots will indicate the places where users are live streaming. The bigger the dot, the more popular the live stream is. To get a preview of the video, just hovering over the dot will show one.

The Interactive Map also allows you to see where the viewers of a particular feed are located. Hovering over the dots will release lines that will connect the place the stream is being broadcast from with that where the viewer is located.

The move is encouraging users of the popular social platform to share more of their lives with the world. However, it seems that for the moment, the most popular live streaming videos belonged to media outlets rather than individuals. It also allows Facebook to enter the race with competitors such as Periscope, Snapchat, and Meerkat, and why not, give them a run for their money.

Live streams entice viewers to interact more, and the new Facebook feature allows users to react and comment on live videos. According to Facebook vice president of product management Will Cathcart, the social media platform wanted to tap into the popularity of live video streams. Live videos, he noted, attract up to 10 times more comments, compared to regular videos. Also, statistics show that viewers spend an average three times more time watching live videos than they do watching regular clips.

As people can now take better quality videos, Cathcart said, Facebook sought to make video a “well-supported” part of the social media platform. The global launch of Interactive Map is expected to become very profitable as well for the social media platform, which currently counts 1.65 billion users worldwide. Should it offer the live streams to advertisers, the company can look forward to a new solid revenue stream.

Image source: Wikipedia