RTC's Holiday 2017 Communicator

6 / 16

6 HOLIDAY 2017
What Makes a Great
LiveVideo?
All live video streams are spontaneous
and have the potential to spark interest
in viewers. But all live streams are not
created equal. Some of the most viral
Facebook Live videos offer insight into
what makes a great live stream.
The best of the best is known as
“Chewbacca Mom” and features Can-
dace Payne sitting in her parked car
having just bought herself a birthday
gift: a Chewbacca mask that roars
like the Star Wars character when the
wearer opens their mouth. Candace
gleefully and repeatedly shows how
it works, interrupted by an infectious
minutes-long giggling fit. By the time
you’re done watching, you can’t wait to
hang out with Candace again.
In another favorite, Ted Yoder plays
a beautiful rendition of the Tears for
Fears song “Everybody Wants to Rule
the World” on a hammered dulcimer.
The setting is a peaceful yard with a
few family members (including a pet
raccoon!) enjoying the show. A third
standout features Dena Blizzard hilari-
ously demonstrating a fictional game
called “Chardonnay Go”—a play on
Pokemon Go—which guides users to
random glasses of Chardonnay in their
immediate area.
Lights, Camera, Go Live!
If you think you might want to dip your toes into live streaming, you
have many options for applications to use to do it. Here are descrip-
tions of some of the most popular ones:
Periscope
Twitter’s contribution to the live stream-
ing world, Periscope, is a stand-alone app
that allows users to live stream and send
the streams out through Twitter.
Facebook Live
Facebook users can start a live stream
any time with a few taps. Unlike Twitter’s
offering, Periscope, Facebook’s streaming
feature is integrated into the platform.
You can choose to save streams as videos.
YouTube Live
The original home to all things video,
YouTube continues its offering with
an easy-to-use live streaming function.
Upon completion, live streams are con-
verted to regular videos.
Developed by music streaming platform
the app allows users to
broadcast live streams and interact with
each other in real time. Once completed,
live streams permanently disappear.
Instagram Live
The popular photo- and video-sharing
app Instagram allows users to go live
to followers any time with its Live
Stories feature. Live streams are not
preserved, so users can feel comfort-
able sharing things they may not want
available later.
Which service you choose will
depend on which platforms
you’re already using. For example,
YouTube users will likely be com-
fortable with that service’s live stream
function. You’ll also want to consider
certain features, such as disappearing
versus retained live streams, or the ability
to embed the stream if you want to use
it elsewhere.
FAST FACT: New Samsung
camera apps feature a button to
start a live YouTube broadcast.