Make Up or Break Up was one of Facebook’s first forays into commissioned original content for its new Watch tab, the show is live and controlled by hashtags. In each episode, which runs around 20 minutes, a couple with a serious relationship problem lays it all out for a live studio audience and thousands of remote commenters, and asks, “Should we make up or break up?” Viewers vote in the comments — #makeup or #breakup — and the couple is supposed to take the final tally of these votes as an unshakeable verdict. The show’s host, popular relationship advice YouTuber Shan Boodram, calls this the “wisdom of the crowd,” and believes that it’s better than any person’s thoughts or feelings, or even the pooled opinions of friends and family. It’s as close as you can get to an objective decision, she argues.

Created as a live multi-camera show in front of a studio audience on Stage 1 at Vista Studios, the series pioneered many new technological advances. Viewers at home and in the studio audience could ask questions or make comments to the host and guests via the Facebook app. A Facebook social media API translated viewer comments into graphics that appeared on monitor walls in the studio and as overlay images in the live stream.

Vista Studios delivered multiple video formats of the show simultaneously — 4k for archival purposes, 1080p for promotional spots, and 720p for transmission delivery to the Facebook Watch platform. The two seasons of Make Up or Break up laid the foundation for creating multi-camera, live, audience participation shows on the Facebook platform.