GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
So you want to try live streaming on youtube. You can stream using a mobile device or a laptop/dekstop/tablet. You can also use an Encoder for “Encoder Streaming”. If all that seems like a lot of jargon, that’s because it is. Let’s break it down.
MOBILE STREAMING: If you want to use “Mobile Live Stream” from the youtube app, you will need at least 1,000 subscribers. Why on earth is that? Well, because youtube is making the rules. If you meet the minimum subscriber mark, you just need a phone or tablet with a camera and the youtube app. This allows any you to be very flexible in terms of your live stream. You can just pull out your camera, hit a button and start live streaming from pretty much anywhere at any time. If you are doing something interesting, you can let the world join in. Once you are done, the video remains on your youtube channel for folks to enjoy in perpetuity.
WEB CAM LIVE STREAMING: This is a very easy way to go. You just need a web cam. You can host live question and answer events or just hang out with fans.
ENCODER LIVE STREAMING: If you use an encoder, you can live stream as well. This is often used by folks who are doing gaming streams. It allows them to have a game stream and camera stream fed to the encoder and then stream that to their audience.
All of the content you stream must of course follow all of the youtube terms of service. Before you start streaming, go to youtube.com/verify and verify your channel. Go to youtube.com and click the camera and hit “GO LIVE” and you’ll see the live screen. You’ll be told that youtube is verifying your account. This can day a day to complete. Once it’s done, you can stream away.
Once you start living streaming, you will want to take advantage of the youtube real time chat window. This allows you to chat with your viewers in real time as you stream. You can assign moderators for your stream. Depending on how many viewers you have, you may need moderators. You can select the menu next to any users name in the chat window and make them a moderator.
If you go to SETTINGS/COMMUNITY in youtube studio, you can block any word or phrase that you don’t want to be in your chat. It’s blocked permanently from chat and comments. This is a good way to prevent people from saying offensive things in your chat. Some folks don’t use this at all. That’s fine too.
The Content for a live stream can be anything you want. If you want to share you favorite video game in real time, or share your creative process while you make music, or share a practice session as you get better on guitar, or teach a class on anything under the sun, live streaming is a great way to do it. It’s built into youtube so you don’t have to buy any other software. It’s a great feature that used to be very expensive to pull off in the not too distant past. Now it’s just one click away. If you have never livestreamed before, give it a go. You may find that people are wanting to see whatever it is that you want to share. Connecting an audience with a content creator is what youtube is all about. If you have a passion for something, anything, why not share it with the world? It can be music, or poetry, or baking, honestly anything. As long as you are in to it, it’s worth sharing.
This video was very helpful in writing this article.
