Facebook Launches New Toolset for Live Interactive Games

Facebook has decided to take a page from the book of HQ Trivia, an app hosted by “quiz daddy” and comedian Scott Rogowsky that focuses on live-streamed multiple choice questions and other gimmicks. The Silicon Valley company launched tools aimed at Facebook Live content creators that will let users interact with shows rather than simply passively viewing them. The new Interactive Show Experiences will let publishers and content developers add polls, multiple choice options, cash prizes and player eliminations to their videos.

Gizmodo notes that aping the HQ Trivia format is a natural for Facebook, which is “not exactly shy about copying its competitors.”

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Facebook described the new tools as helping “a range of formats come to life, like a live trivia show where fans compete to see who knows the most about a particular topic or perhaps a direct competition between creators and their superfans on a topic of choice.” But Facebook is proceeding without real proof that “people actually want their feeds filled with old and new takes on the trivia show format.”

Fortune reports that, in addition to “quizzes, polls, and audience challenges,” Facebook is partnering with BuzzFeed on Gameshow in which “multiple viewers can select from a series of answers, with those answering incorrectly being eliminated.” The move, it adds, “positions Facebook to capitalize on the popularity of realtime trivia apps like HQ Trivia, which emerged as a surprise online hit last year.”

In February, a private round of funding led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund valued HQ Trivia “above $100 million.” Other Facebook moves “aimed at strengthening the relationship between creators and their audiences” include featuring some videos posted to Facebook Pages in Facebook Watch, and “creators … able to see badges next to their most loyal fans to help create deeper relationships with them.”

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