How to use split screen on Facebook Live

The Facebook Live feature has been around for quite some time. However, it gets better every time. For example, it now allows you to add another person to your live stream as a host, while also allowing you to broadcast from both your private profile and a business page.

Facebook Live now also supports third-party services, but since Facebook tends to remove your views from your stream in this case, we’ll stick to the native Facebook Live features. Read on to see how you can master the most important ones.

Entering to live in…

Going live on Facebook with another person is the essence of split screen on Facebook Live. Before you can invite someone to join you live, you must first do so. At the time of writing, the only way to go live from a private profile is from the Facebook app on your mobile device:

1. Open your Facebook app for Android or iOS.
2. Go to the Status bar, the same place you go when you type a Status. From the menu at the bottom of the screen, select “Live Video.”
3. Let Facebook access your camera if you haven’t already. If that is the case, your smartphone’s operating system will prompt you to do so.
   

Before starting to work

Starting a Facebook Live broadcast is easy. However, your setup may benefit from some additional adjustments:

1. Add a description to your Facebook Live video so people know what to expect from the start. The most important thing to do before starting a live stream is to tag the person you want to invite as a guest later.
2. If you’re streaming live from a Facebook profile, you can choose who can view your stream, similar to sharing posts. In the top left corner, there’s a “To:” button where you can choose between “Public,” “Friends,” “Friends of Friends,” or “Friends Except…” if you just want to broadcast to a group on Facebook. you are looking for, you can do this too.
3. If you’re streaming from a business Page, your stream must be public, but you can adjust your audience using Facebook Audience Restrictions. Tap the round button with three dots in the middle in the bottom right corner of the screen to access them. Here you can enable “Geo Controls” and use the “Locations” option to exclude or include certain audiences based on their location.
4. You must have the latest version of the Facebook app installed on your device.
5. Make sure you leave your Facebook app open at all times to avoid technical difficulties with streaming. Since you are the announcer, if the connection on your side goes down, the entire broadcast will end. Speaking of connection, you should start your live video using Wi-Fi.
6. Once you choose the video orientation, you’ll need to leave it as is for the entire stream. This is especially true when inviting a guest, who must have the same screen orientation before joining you.

Invite a guest

Inviting a guest is easy and can be done in two ways: adding a person from the Comments section or adding them from your live viewers list:

1. To add a guest who commented on your live video, tap the comment that person made. You will notice that you can invite this person if he is eligible to join the broadcast. They are eligible to join if they use a compatible device. That person will have a green camera icon on their profile photo.
2. Not all live viewers can be your guests. In addition to the people you’ve tagged in the stream description, only pages and profiles that are verified and randomly chosen viewers can be your guests. If the person you want to invite is not verified, you must ask them to comment before you can invite.

Even more things to keep in mind

1. There are no restrictions on the number of live viewers, but you cannot have more than one guest.
2. To remove a guest, tap the “X” in the upper right corner of the guest portion of the screen.
3. Even if you currently have one guest, you can still invite another.
4. Additionally, you can invite a page. However, it also has to be looking at you live.
5. You can use filters even when you have a guest.
   

Live Troubleshooting

When going live from a page, you will be able to see the “Event Registration” button. This is a useful feature as it primarily displays streaming-related errors, but you can modify what it displays. However, if you can’t connect at all, here’s what you should check:

1. First of all, make sure you are actually connected to a reliable internet connection.
2. Enable RTMPS (Real Time Messaging Protocol Secure).
3. See if your firewall is causing the problem.
4. Ad blockers and other plug-ins and add-ons often interfere with video players. Therefore, try to disable them for the duration of the broadcast.
5. Finally, check if the server URL and URL key were made more than 24 hours ago. If so, they are not valid and you will have to create new ones.

Streaming from a page also has additional requirements that your video must follow:

1. A resolution that does not exceed 1280×720 pixels with a framerate of 30 fps
2. No more than eight hours long.
3. 256 kbps as maximum supported bit rate
4. Square Pixel Aspect Ratio

How to go live in a Facebook group

Facebook allows you to post live videos to your profile, page, event, or group. However, you’ll need to check your group’s privacy settings to determine who will see your live video.

To post to a Facebook group, follow these steps:

Using the Facebook mobile app

1. Open your Facebook profile.
2. Tap the three lines icon at the top right of your screen.
3. Tap Groups and select the group you want to go live with from the Your Groups menu.
4. Tap the Live icon below the status bar menu.
5. Add a description to your video and tap Start Live Video.

Use Facebook on desktop

To post to a Facebook group using your desktop computer, follow these steps:

1. From your News Feed, select Groups and choose the group you want to post to.
2. Click Live Video at the top of the group.
3. Choose if you want Go live noweitherSchedule a live videofor a future date and time.
4. Add a description to your video.
5. Start your live video.

smile for the camera

Facebook Live is fairly easy to set up, but it is not immune to glitches and connectivity issues. Hopefully, though, you’re now prepared for all of that. Just follow the requirements and you’ll be golden.

If you could choose anyone to be your livestream guest, who would you choose? What would the transmission be about? Let your imagination run wild and make the comments section more interesting.