Are you the dedicated hero of your small but mighty team, which has invested countless hours reading posts, looking at videos, and trying to find the perfect solution to deliver live video to your community?
Multistreaming has likely been on your radar, and you’ve recently learned that, according to industry experts, the impact of live streaming is predicted to increase significantly by 2028, making it a crucial tool for organizations, businesses, and individuals. Or maybe you’re just trying to figure out where to begin and how to get your organization’s social channels ready for live streaming because you know the impact you can make when you live stream on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Twitch, all at once.
When you think of watching a live-streaming video, what platform or social channel comes to mind? Is it YouTube?
YouTube is probably one of the easiest, most accessible social media destinations to go live on. Viewers only need an internet connection to enjoy a video; no sign-up is required.
Until recently, live streaming wasn’t widely available, and the most common form of video was traditional uploads to different platforms. But times have changed, and now you can deliver live content using other platforms like Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Twitch, and even Instagram!
Reaching your community on the platforms they use the most will ensure that you’re making solid efforts to give them the information they need.
In this blog post, we provide the requirements for live streaming on platforms such as X, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitch, as well as some technical requirements for your live streaming software.
TL;DR
Here are the credentials needed for live streaming on these platforms.
- YouTube:
- Time until first Live: 24 hours
- Cost: FREE
- Subscriber/Follower Count: Desktop(0), Mobile(50)
- Facebook:
- Time until first Live: 60 Days
- Cost: FREE
- Subscriber/Follower Count: 100 Subscribers for Facebook Pages and Group
- X:
- Time until first Live: Up to 7 Days
- Cost: Premium or Premium+
- Subscriber/Follower Count:0 Subscribers
- LinkedIn:
- Time until first Live: At least 30 Days
- Cost: FREE
- Subscriber/Follower Count:150 Followers
- Twitch:
- Time until first Live: Immediately
- Cost: FREE
- Subscriber/Follower Count: 0 Subscribers
Let's jump right in!
YouTube
YouTube is SEO-friendly, meaning your live streams are discoverable through search engines, maximizing long-term visibility. YouTube allows for the saving and sharing of live streams, enabling conversations to persist even after the event concludes.
So, what's needed for live streaming on YouTube?
You'll need to enable live streaming on your YouTube channel. To do this you:
- Must have a verified YouTube account.
- Enable live streaming in your account settings (this can take up to 24 hours).
- Have no live streaming restrictions within the past 90 days.
Time Before First Live: Up to 24 hours after enabling live streaming.
Cost: FREE!
Mobile live streaming on YouTube
Want to use your phone for easy live streaming on YouTube? This live-streaming style is a great way to connect with your community while you are on-site during a community event or town hall you’re attending or when you simply want to turn on the selfie camera to give a quick recap of what just happened.
According to YouTube, to live stream on mobile devices, you'll need:
- At least 50 subscribers (it used to be 1000).
- No live streaming restrictions within the last 90 days on your channel.
- Verify your channel.
- Turn on live streaming.
- An Android 5.0+ device. / An iOS 8+ device.
Recommended live encoder settings, bitrates, and resolutions for YouTube can be found HERE.
Facebook is another great place for live streaming because it allows users to create communities and niches, making it possible to make a sizable impact and inform communities in real time.
So, what's needed for live streaming on Facebook? What do you need to ensure you have covered before going live?
Time Before First Live: At least 60 days
Cost: FREE!
Facebook Profile
Your Facebook Account must be at least 60 days old.
Facebook Page or Professional Profile
According to Facebook, you need to meet these requirements before you can go live on a Facebook Page or Professional Profile. This change was announced earlier this year.
- Your account must be at least 60 days old.
- Your Page or professional profile must have at least 100 followers.
- To go live on a Facebook Page, you must have Facebook or task access to create content.
Facebook Groups
You must have the correct credentials to live stream within the group.
You can review their full breakdown of recommended live video specifications HERE.
X( formerly Twitter)
X is built for fast, real-time interaction, making it easy for constituents to engage through live comments, reposts, and likes. It's a platform that keeps you connected and engaged. Over the years, this dynamic platform has morphed from Periscope through Twitter to X.
It is undoubtedly great for increasing visibility, as live streams can quickly go viral through retweets and hashtags, raising awareness about community events among the broader population.
Time Before First Live: Up to 7 days (this depends on how long the X verification process takes for X to approve your account.)
Cost: Premium or Premium+ subscription
Requirements for live streaming on X
- A verified X, Account. We discussed this process in our recent blog post, X's Livestreaming Updates Impact on Public Sector Organizations.
- Premium or Premium+
You can review the full breakdown of recommended live video specifications Here.
This platform is ideal for engaging with local business leaders, professionals, and potential investors interested in community development while providing networking opportunities with community leaders. It also helps demonstrate transparency and leadership, fostering trust among voters.
The criteria to create and host LinkedIn Lives are:
Audience base
- Members and Pages with more than 150 followers and/or connections are eligible to be evaluated for LinkedIn Live access.
A good history of LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies
- Only members, Pages, and admins with good standing records will be considered for Live Video access. Review LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies
Geography
- LinkedIn Live is unavailable now for members and Pages based in mainland China.
Time Before First Live: At least 30 days
Cost: FREE!
You can review their full breakdown of recommended live video specifications Here.
Twitch
Since Twitch is traditionally known for gaming, it's a great platform for standing out with original content while facing less competition and fostering niche community engagement. Check out their onboarding for political channels if you're in the political space.
Time Before First Live: Minutes! Only as long as it takes you to set up your account
Cost: FREE!
You can review their full breakdown of recommended live video specifications Here.
At a Glance: Live Streaming Specifications for each platform:
Multistreaming with Switchboard Live
Now is the time to try Switchboard Live! Our platform makes managing all your live streaming channels easy from a centralized location, and we've optimized our platform for team collaboration.
Getting started is simple. All you need is a reliable internet connection. We recommend testing your upload speed before going live, as this will help determine the proper bitrate or adjustments you need.
We're compatible with many live stream encoders on the market, such as Zoom, OBS, etc. You can connect multiple encoders simultaneously to our platform and go live to unlimited destinations. It's as simple as sending us your stream, and we simultaneously deliver it to many platforms.
These are our Minimum recommended streaming settings for going live.
Resolution: Minimum 720p (1280 x 720) resolution, at 30 frames per second
Video Bit Rate: Minimum bit rate of 2000 Kbps (2 Mbps)
Audio Bit Rate: Minimum Audio bit rate of 96 Kbps (128 Kbps)
Key Frame Interval: An I-frame (keyframe) must be sent at least every 2 seconds
Encoding Profile: Main (H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10)
Now that you know the live-streaming requirements, it's time to take action. Explore the possibilities with Switchboard Live—Start your FREE TRIAL today!
