Facebook revamping notifications panel to get more mobile users

Facebook is rearranging the notification panel on its mobile apps in an effort to broaden the audience creating, watching and reacting to live video on its social network

Facebook rearranging notification buttons to highlight video (Facebook)

Facebook is rearranging the notification panel on its mobile apps in an effort to broaden the audience creating, watching and reacting to live video on its social network.

The shift announced Wednesday is part of Facebook's effort to turn its live video feature into a marquee attraction as more people use their smartphones to record and share snippets of their lives.

Initially introduced as a tool for celebrities eight months ago, Facebook's live video option is now available in 60 countries.

To help promote it, Facebook is moving the button for its Messenger service so that the new video option can be highlighted on the notification panel. When pressed, the video button will show a directory of live streams from a user's friends, as well as segments available to anyone on the world's largest social network.

Messenger notifications will move to the top of Facebook's mobile apps near the search box.

The app update for Apple and Android devices will be rolled out in phases and take several weeks to complete.

Facebook also is adding filters to live video and making it possible to express more emotions during a presentation by pressing on "love," ''haha," ''wow," ''sad" or "angry" emojis. Those are the same options that supplement Facebook's "like" button for photo and text posts. During a live video, the reactions will float across the screen to provide more dynamic feedback to the video.