We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries on how to take advantage of Facebook Live which is basically a live video-sharing feature for the things you’re doing or happening to you at the moment — whether it be your morning jog on a beautiful day, your dog’s new trick, or to show off the beautiful sights during your travels.
Posting a live video on Facebook doesn’t matter whether you’re device is running on iOS or Android and the steps are just the same. The company also mentions that only these two platforms support the feature as of the time of writing (sorry Windows and BlackBerry users).
To begin, you first have to make sure that your Facebook app is updated. Once that’s done, open the app and do the following:
Click on the What’s on your mind? area as if making a new post. From there, you should see the Live Video icon which looks like a person with a broadcast signal coming out of its head. Tap that and you’ll be directed to a new page.
Here, you can write a brief description for your video or just leave it blank if you wish. You may also set the audience to which the video will be visible to — Public, Friends, etc. Once all that’s done, tap Go Live to start broadcasting. Do take note that maximum time for live streaming is now 90 minutes from its initial 30-minute limit.
Tap Finish when you’re done.
Some notes you may want to know:
- Facebook Live was limited to celebrities and other famous identities and Pages before it was available for public accounts.
- Some accounts still don’t have this feature. Within our editorial team, only one has access to Facebook Live.
- Once you start broadcasting, your contacts will be notified that you’re now live so they can watch you.
- You will be able to see how many viewers are currently tuned in.
- You can respond to comments live.
- Your video will still remain on your friends’ news feed so they can watch the “replay” even if you’re no longer live.
- Continuous Live Videos could let you record for 24 hours but will not be able to replay the video or rewind it.
- You can set the visibility of your video based on locations and age.
- Facebook will provide a reaction volume graph so viewers could see which part of the video got more engagement — allowing them to jump to that interesting part right away.
Now that you know how to use Facebook Live, go out there and start making unique and interesting content for your friends and family!
