The Facebook Effect

If this week’s Chewbacca viral video sensation is any indication, Facebook’s live video product is making internet stars right and left. But what does Facebook’s live video product mean in the context of the current startup landscape?

Over the next few months and years, I think we will see the Facebook live video API give life to a new class of startups. I talked with LinkedIn’s Caroline Fairchild about my thoughts on this subject last week.

Here’s a selection from our conversation…

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Caroline Fairchild: What trend in tech are you most excited about right now?

Jeremy Liew: There is a ton of activity around VR, AR, and AI/bots right now. But one area that I am personally very excited about is triggered by Facebook’s live video product.

Facebook has opened up an API for video to third parties, and every time that Facebook has opened up access to its huge audience via an API, some companies have rapidly grown to reach hundreds of millions of users.

This happened when they launched the original Facebook platform; think Slide, RockYou, Flixster, when they opened up the right rail for ads; think Groupon, Zynga, Gilt, and when they allowed external links in the feed; think Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, etc. Some of these companies lasted and some did not. The ones that lasted aligned their interests with that of Facebook in the long run.

I think we’ll see some companies taking advantage of the ability to grow that this new API offers up and will build lasting and valuable companies.