Facebook introduces game shows platform, with live interactive vids

Online game shows are all the rage these days (just ask HQ Trivia), so it is no surprise that just about everybody is trying to join in on the party. Facebook, however, sees things differently -- instead of launching its own game show, the biggest social media empire in the world has decided to debut its own game show platform. 

Indeed, Facebook just recently unveiled a new set of interactive, live, and on-demand video features that basically allow creators to build their own quiz games, surveys, challenges, and gamification so that players can be eliminated from a game for providing or selecting an incorrect answer. For those interested in gaining access to the platform, they can sign up here.

This is a significant development, especially in light of the company’s sort of mission to take over the whole world wide web (despite some talk of not connecting with the kids anymore). It is no secret that Facebook wants people to stay in its walls for as long as humanly possible, but with recent headlines talking about mobile or social media addiction, the company might want to go for more healthy ways of letting its users consume multimedia.

At launch, the game show platform’s partners already include Fresno’s What’s In The Box (where people have to guess what is inside the box) and BuzzFeed News’ Outside Your Bubble, which lets players guess what their opponents are thinking. On top of this, Facebook is also currently experimenting with a set up that gives cash prizes (which can be split among multiple winners) with (Business) INSIDER’s Confetti, which lets viewers answer trivia questions and even read responses made by friends.

As pointed out by Fidji Simo, the vice president of video product at Facebook, delivering video content is now changing -- not only do today’s consumers want to watch a video, they are now also wishing they could somehow interact with what is going on in their screens. As for creators of games, they would be perfectly willing to reward their audience in order to improve engagement. The only thing left now to figure out are the details with regards to awarding the prizes being promised.

All publishers and creators will be able to access the new interactive video features, in conjunction with the worldwide debut of the Android version of Facebook’s Creator app for Internet celebrities. Users can take full advantage of tools that include simple in-video polls in order to set up a game show style contest. Moreover, creators will also be given the ability to write out trivia questions and of course, assign the correct answers.