Facebook has announced two new features- Facebook Mentions and Live- available to public figures with verified profiles to help them engage their followers and interact with their peers.

People love connecting with public figures and reading articles from their favourite journalists and this new feature facilitates a more personal experience for users on the platform.

As a journalist or public figure with a verified profile, people can use Mentions to report from the scene and interact with followers live. The Live feature means journalists can report from the scene, host a Q&A and connect in real-time with followers and see what people are saying about public figures and the topics they care about.

Public figures can check out what people are saying about them and other topics of interest. It is also possible to see what topics are currently trending on Facebook.

Whether sharing text, links, photos or something else, Mentions lets public figures choose the audience a public figure wants to share with. For example, they can share a post so only their followers see it in News Feed.