Facebook Testing Live Audio Service

Facebook on Monday began testing a live audio streaming service that will let people essentially broadcast radio-style on the leading online social network.

Partners working with Facebook to test "Live Audio" included BBC World Service, book publisher HarperCollins, British talk radio station LBC, and authors Adam Grant and Brit Bennett.

The new feature comes as an alternative to a Facebook tool that lets people stream live video at the social network.

According to Techcrunch.com, Broadcasts have a long limit of four hours so they should accommodate a wide range of content, such as:

• Radio stations could broadcast their programs
• Podcasters could find new online distribution for their episodes
• Authors could do live readings of their books
• Celebrities could do Q&As without worrying about how they look on camera
• News anchors could broadcast audio from disaster zones or areas of crisis where bandwidth may be too overloaded for video streaming
• Musicians could broadcast concerts or studio sessions