Instagram Live offers disappearing broadcasts

It’s been on the cards for a while. Live Video is now rolling out to Instagram users across the UK, as well as Germany, France, Brazil, Canada and Japan, after its debut in North America last month.

Similar to Facebook and Twitter, with one difference we’ll explore in a moment – Instagram users can now broadcast as well as watch live streams of other Instagram users in Live mode.

According to a blog on the Instagram website ‘Live video on Instagram Stories helps you connect with your friends and followers – right now’.

Instagram has seen continued growth with over 600 million active monthly users. Over 60% of them log in daily, making Instagram the second most engaged network after Facebook and a staggering 30% of internet users are on Instagram.

Oookay. So another Social Media platform offering Live Video. What’s the difference?

A good question. Well unlike Facebook and Twitter, each live broadcast automatically disappears as soon as the broadcast stops. Another big difference, compared to Facebook and Twitter, is the ability to disable comments on the broadcast.

How do you Go Live on Instagram?

All you need to do is tap on the camera icon in the top left corner. Then simply slide along the bottom of the screen and chose the ‘Live’ option. Tap ‘Start Live Video’, a countdown 3,2,1, starts and You’re Live!.

Instagram immediately starts notifying your followers so that they can watch. Once you’re Live you get the option on screen to disable comments during your broadcast by tapping the 3 little dots in the bottom right corner.

What’s worth remembering?

As we’ve mentioned before, a few times : – when it comes to disappearing videos, photos and all that sort of stuff, they may not really disappear.

Despite Instagram claiming that once the broadcast is over it disappears – that’s right no replays, it’s never long before someone creates a way for live broadcasts to be saved. Sure, even now you could technically record the broadcast with a second device and post it elsewhere around the web. I noticed when testing that I did also have the ability to screen shot the broadcast – it’s likely there’ll probably soon be other ways to save it too. I’ll be doing further testing on this and will update this post soon.

So the advice still stands. When it comes to Live Video remember ‘IT’S LIVE VIDEO!!’ and treat it as such.

If you’re still accepting ‘friends’ requests from random people and not paying attention to who you’ve added, then you’re not going to have as much control as you’d like over who’s watching your Live Video on Instagram.

Safety Tips for Live Streaming

• Never give out personal information. Things like your home address and telephone number are a No No.
• Within your live broadcast you can be giving away lots of small clues, which when put together can add up to a lot of information. Things like what your house looks like, its street name, your car number plate, what event or location you’re at, even a letter in the background might let someone pick up personal information.
• When live broadcasting remember to disable your location. Then the location you’re broadcasting from can’t be picked up by random ‘friends’.
• Children and young people do broadcast alone from within their bedroom. This can be a major concern regarding privacy for them and the family, so it’s important rules and boundaries are in place for videoing in the home.

Stay Safe Online
Wayne

If you’d like more practical tips on how to protect yourself online and improve your Online Reputation grab a copy of my book..

Posted By Wayne Denner

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