Facebook Live – Today, we’re announcing some exciting updates to Facebook Live, giving broadcasters and individuals new ways to create, share, and discover live videos on Facebook.

We know that understanding live viewership is essential for broadcasters and creators, so today, we’re also launching two new video metrics: peak live viewership during a stream and a new graph showing concurrent live viewers—the time during transmission.

1. Go Live With A Strong Connection

Ensure your stream is as clear, high-res, and stable as possible.

  • If you are recording with a phone:
  • The quality of the broadcast depends on the speed of your connection. So go live when you have a strong relationship (use Wi-Fi instead of your phone’s mobile data whenever possible).
  • Use a tripod or a fixed camera for more stable transmission.
  • If you are using video (streaming) encoding software or hardware:
  • Use a dedicated cable connection with redundancy when possible. If you must use Wi-Fi, type sure it’s secure and reserved for streaming, and make contingency plans.
  • Stream from an event? We recommend setting up a dedicated connection (fibre or satellite backhaul) rather than relying on a link from one location.
  • Run a speed test to determine your upload bitrate.
  • Please follow our specifications and send us the highest bitrate stream that your connection speed and encoder can reliably tolerate (within our maximum specifications).

2. Engage With Your Audience

We prioritize content that sparks meaningful conversations and interactions between real people. For example, videos that inspire friend-to-friend or person-to-person exchanges tend to get extra distribution. Actively responding to and curbing comments during your live stream can play an essential role in fostering such conversations and interactions.

Some techniques to ensure a healthy interaction include:

  • Greet commenters by name and reply to their comments.
  • Whenever possible, bring viewers’ questions or comments into the broadcast by answering questions on the air.
  • Pin great comments to the top of the chat.
  • Are you streaming live from an event? Encourage event attendees to interact with the audience through live commentary.

3. Post Longer To Reach More People

Facebook prioritizes longer videos (more than 3 minutes) that encourage people to keep watching. For live broadcasts, the longer you stay live, the more likely people will discover your Facebook friends and invite them to watch the video. You can visit live for up to eight hours while streaming via the Live API with an encoder!

4. Tell People Fast Of Time When You’re Going To Stream

Build anticipation by letting people know when you’re going live. In addition, you should consider scheduling your stream if you are using streaming software or an encoder for live streaming.

5. Get Creative And Go Live Often!

Try different types of streams and go live often to keep your audience engaged—experiment with other phone or camera orientations, streaming times, and formats to see what works best. Use the information in Creator Studio to evaluate different approaches.

Conclusion

All these statistics and facts prove that Facebook Live is still on an uptrend. So many people still use it. So much so that it generates more engagement than non-live Facebook videos.