How To Use Instagram Live : The Ultimate Guide

Instagram Live: Instagram, a social media platform that has the highest number of engaging users with over 77 Million users from just the US, and that is only 14% of the total number of users on Instagram.

For sure, Instagram has managed to live up to its success and they keep on bringing new features which allow content creators to interact with their followers and audience in unique ways.

One important way of interacting with the audience on Instagram is stories, where you can interact in a more concentrated way like using polls, QNA, gifs, etc.  Instagram also allows users to go live through which one user can interact with his/her followers in real-time.

And if you are reading this article, am pretty sure that you are looking to go live as well but might be confused on the way to do it. Well, it’s not that difficult too!

Tips For Instagram Live

To go live on Instagram you have to make sure that you do have these things

• A Smartphone
• Good Internet Connection

And that is it! You are all set to go live on Instagram!

Steps to Go Live on Instagram

Here are steps to go live on Instagram in Chronological Order so you don’t have to worry about missing steps.

• Open your Instagram app and tap on the Camera icon on the top left of the display
• You can even swipe right anywhere from your feed to enter into IG Camera
• From a bunch of options available below, look for “Live” (Note that if the option isn’t available, you might have to update your Instagram app from PlayStore or AppStore)
• Once you tap on “Live”, Instagram will confirm to Go Live
• Tap on Go Live and boom!
• You are Live right now and interact with the audience in the way you want

On top of your screen, you can view the number of viewers watching your Instagram Live video at a time and their comments will appear at the bottom of your screen.

You can Tap on a specific comment which will Pin it to the top so that your viewers can see it more easily.

The best part about Instagram is that you can even either turn off commenting or filter out comments with some keywords which you can mention anytime in the settings.

To do that, just tap on Three Vertical/Horizontal dots and select any of the options as mentioned above.

Also, note that those three dots will appear horizontal on IOS iPhones and vertical on Android smartphones.

You can tap on the “END” option visible on the top right of your screen to end the live session and save to your story or discard it.

Saving it to your story will set your Live Session to your stories for the next 24-hours so that other viewers can watch it too.

Or can save the entire live session to your Camera Roll/ Gallery.

Now that was for smartphone users! Can you go live from PC?

Well, there are certain extensions available for browsers which you can download and mimic the entire application into your browser.

If you do have a webcam connected your laptop/Desktop, simply install those extensions and proceed in the same order as mentioned above for smartphone users.

Having a Google Chrome or Chrome Based browser will have more options for such Extensions than compared to other browsers. So we do suggest you install Google Chrome or Chrome-based browser if you are looking to Go Live through your Desktop or Laptop.

FAQs that Users are Generally Confused About!

1) Can You Add GIFs to your Live Stream?

Unfortunately, you can add any GIF image to your live stream on Instagram.

2) Can You use filters while Streaming Live?

Yes, Instagram allows to switch and use Filters at the same time while streaming live.

3) Can Anyone Download your Live Stream?

No one can download your live stream. Even third-party apps like GbInsta doesn’t allow for downloading live streams of a person.

4) Is there any way to stream on Instagram from Laptop/Desktop?

As we said above, you can stream using desktop/Laptop using certain browser extensions.

5) What’s The Reason behind Poor Live Session Quality?

There can be various reasons behind poor live session quality, some of them are

• Slow Internet Connection (Try Switching to different internet connections)
• Dirty Camera Lens (Try Cleaning the Camera lens with Microfiber or Damp Cloth)
• Poor Front Camera (Try Using Rear Camera)

6) Instagram Live can have copyright issues if there is any audio in the background?

No, there are no such copyright issues with Instagram even if there is any specific music in the background.

7) Any Effects of Inviting People on Instagram Live?

It has no negative effect, but an underpowered phone may not be able to stream smoothly.

8) What are the Causes of Lags in the Instagram live session?

Slow Internet Connection and Underpowered phones are the only reasons to cause lags in live sessions. While the case of one having an underpowered phone is rare, and one should first try switching to different networks

9) Instagram Live isn’t working at all!

This is a very rare case and there can be several reasons behind this. Start by following the basic steps

• Wait for 12-24 Hours as Instagram Servers could be down and check online for such
• Try Restarting the App
• Force Close Instagram App
• Restart your Smartphone
• Re-install the Instagram App

If none of the solutions works for you, it is suggested to contact the Instagram support team for further information.

Last Note

In the end, Instagram is the best social media platform of all time if you are looking to create either a personal account or even use Instagram for business. Their tools are so helpful even for creators and those who are looking to establish brand recognition.

But not everything can be perfect every time and so is Instagram. There can be issues with it but you can contact their support team anytime or search online for your problem.

Although that’s too rare and we cannot deny the fact that Instagram has over 8 Million Business profiles and Billions of Personal accounts.

Instagram always keep trying to make their Platform perfect and no such other platform can do so the way Instagram does.

So next time if you planning to go live in Instagram and worried about the technical know-how, the above is what you need to do.