How to Use Split Screen on Facebook Live

The Facebook Live feature has been around for quite some time. However, it gets better all the time. For example, it now lets you add another person to your live stream as a broadcaster, while also letting you stream from both your private profile and a business Page.

Facebook Live now also supports third-party services, but since Facebook tends to strip your views off your stream in this case, we’ll stick to the native Facebook Live functions. Keep reading to see how you can master all of the most important ones.

Going Live in…

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

1. Open your Facebook Android or iOS app.
2. Go to the Status bar, the same place you go to when writing a Status. From the menu at the bottom of the screen, select “Live Video.”
3. Let Facebook access your camera if you haven’t done this yet. If that’s the case, your smartphone’s OS will ask you to do so.
   

Before You Go Live

Starting a Facebook Live broadcast is easy. Setting it up may benefit from some additional tweaks, though:

1. Add a description to your Facebook Live video so people know what to expect right off the bat. The most important thing to do before starting a live broadcast is to tag the person you want to invite as a guest later.
2. If you’re going live from a Facebook profile, you can choose who can see your stream, similarly to sharing posts. On the top-left corner, there’s a “To:” button where you can choose from “Public,” “Friends,” “Friends of Friends,” or “Friends except…” If streaming to a group on Facebook is what you’re looking for, you can do this as well.
3. If you’re streaming from a business Page, your stream has to be public, but you can adjust your audience by using Facebook Audience Restrictions. Tap the round button with three dots in the middle in the bottom-right corner of the screen to access these. Here you can enable “Geo Controls” and use the “Locations” option to exclude or include certain audiences by their location.
4. You need to have the latest version of the Facebook app installed on your device.
5. Make sure that you leave your Facebook app open all the time to prevent technical difficulties with the broadcast. Since you’re the broadcaster, if the connection dies on your side, the whole stream will end. Speaking of connection, you need to start your Live video using Wi-Fi.
6. Once you choose your video orientation, you need to leave it as is during the whole stream. This is especially so when inviting a guest, who must have the same screen orientation before joining you.

Inviting a Guest

Inviting a guest is easy and can be done in two ways: by adding a person from the Comments section, or by adding it from your Live viewers list:

1. To add a guest that commented on your Live video, tap on the comment that person made. You’ll notice that you can invite this person if they’re eligible to join the broadcast. They are eligible to join if they are using a supported device. Such a person will have a green camera icon on their profile picture.
2. Not all Live viewers can be your guests. Besides the people you’ve tagged in the broadcast’s description, only Pages and profiles that are verified and randomly chosen viewers can be your guests. If the person you want to invite isn’t verified, you need to get them to comment before you can invite.

Even More Things to Keep in Mind

1. There’s no restriction when it comes to the number of Live viewers, but you cannot have more than a single guest.
2. To remove a guest, tap the “X” in the top-right corner of the guest’s part of the screen.
3. Even if you currently have a guest, you can still invite another one.
4. Additionally, you can invite a Page. However, it also needs to be watching you live.
5. You can use filters even when you have a guest.
   

Live Troubleshooting

When going live from a Page, you’ll be able to see the “Event Log” button. This is a helpful function since it primarily shows errors regarding the stream, but you can modify what it shows. However, if you can’t connect at all, here’s what you should check:

1. First of all, make sure you’re actually connected to a reliable internet connection.
2. Enable RTMPS (Secure Real-Time Messaging Protocol).
3. See if your firewall is causing the issue.
4. Ad blockers and other plugins and add-ons oftentimes interfere with video players. Therefore, try disabling them for the duration of the stream.
5. Finally, check if the server URL and the URL key are made more than 24 hours ago. If so, they are invalid and you should create new ones.

Broadcasting from a Page also has additional requirements that your video needs to follow:

1. A resolution that does not exceed 1280×720 pixels with a framerate of 30 fps
2. No more than eight hours of length
3. 256 kbps as the top supported bitrate
4. Square pixel aspect ratio

How to Go Live in a Facebook Group

Facebook allows you to post live videos on your profile, page, event, or group. You will have to check your group’s privacy settings, though, to determine who will see your live video.

To go live on a Facebook group, follow these steps:

Using Facebook Mobile App

1. Open your Facebook profile.
2. Tap the three-line icon on the top right hand side of your screen.
3. Tap Groups, and select the group you want to go Live in from the Your Groups menu.
4. Tap the Live icon under the status bar menu.
5. Add description to your video, and tap Start Live Video.

Using Facebook on Desktop

To go live on a Facebook group using your desktop computer, follow these steps:

1. From your News Feed, select Groups and choose the group you want to go live in.
2. Click Live Video at the top of the group.
3. Choose whether you want to Go Live Now or Schedule a Live Video for a future time and date.
4. Add a description to your video.
5. Start your Live video.

Smile for the Camera

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

If you could choose any person to be your live broadcast guest, who would you choose? What would be the broadcast about? Let your imagination roam and make the comments section more interesting.