If you are looking for a professional solution to live stream to Facebook Live without hiring a video production team, where you do not need high tech equipment and you can invite guests to be on screen using their desktop and web camera or their iOS device, as I have written about previously, I encourage you to consider signing up for a trial of BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live.
This is the fourth in a series of articles about using BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live streaming, a new product that has recently been released and which I have been testing for my Live Stream Insiders shows. At the time of writing this article, there is no pricing available for the product.
This article is based on an evaluation of BlueJeans that I have independently carried out using the free trial for the product and is influenced by my background in live event production and hosting and speaking through webinar platforms and live stream platforms for over sixteen years and nine years respectively.
You can contact me privately to discuss live stream training and mentoring programmes and services – however I think this will be a helpful overview of key features that business professionals who want to live stream to Facebook Live will find of assistance.
There are a number of features I would like to see which I have already provided in feedback to the international head of marketing and the product manager of BlueJeans Primetime as during their trial period they are actively seeking input from users. I will publish that list in a separate article.
Note: I produce and moderate my own shows but I have had years of experience doing so and multi tasking for live stream production. It is recommended that you work with someone to produce your show for example training a member of your team.
Read my previous articles about Blue Jeans Primetime and watch the live show I did with the product manager for Primetime:
- An introduction to BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live
- How to join a live stream on BlueJeans Primetime as a guest or attendee on your desktop or mobile
- Learn about BlueJeans Primetime from the product manager Pashmeen Mistry who joined us on the Live Stream Insiders show
- Watch the segment from the live stream where discuss the target market for BlueJeans Primetime
- Learn how to get started as a moderator of a Facebook Live show using BlueJeans Primetime
- Fifteen reasons you should consider using BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live
- Features that would make BlueJeans Primetime a more powerful platform for live streaming.
Where You Might Be Migrating From To BlueJeans Primetime For Facebook Live
If you are exploring the use of BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live you are probably wanting to expand your reach to an audience that you already have on Facebook. You are probably looking at the platform having experience with tools such as:
- Google Hangouts On Air or YouTube love streaming platforms either stand alone or connected with platforms such as WebinarJam, EasyWebinar and Business Hangouts
- Zoom.us
- Blab.im which ceased operating earlier this year
- Firetalk.com
- Smiletime.com
- Crowdcast.io
- Huzza.io
- Using tools such as OBS, Wirecast, vMix or other live stream software providers
- Working with producers to help them create shows
- Other webinar platforms e.g. GoToWebinar.
Image credit: Example of a Facebook Live stream from The Players Tribune
Key Questions You May Have About BlueJeans Primetime
Here are some questions you may want to ask when you are testing BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live:
- How is this different to your BlueJeans product? It is not clear about what is and is not going to be provided versus the main BlueJeans web conference platform at the time of writing this article and no pricing has been announced
- Is this a platform that I can use for meetings and webinars? Potentially this could be a replacement for other tools but with the added advantage of live streaming to Facebook Live – this will depend on what features of the main BlueJeans platform are available in the new package
- Will we have the ability to stream to other platforms e.g. YouTube in the future? No access to RTMP information has been published for BlueJeans Primetime and they appear to want to be partners with Facebook at this time – probably also due to the synergy for their corporate clients with Facebook for Work.
Facebook have clear terms of service and do not want simulcasts of content to multiple platforms – I am guessing major publishers have separate arrangements – so I think it is highly unlikely at this time that they will release simulcasting to YouTube or other platforms. - What is the investment going to be? That is the question we are all waiting to have answered! (Update: see the status on pricing at the bottom of the article as at 6 October 2016)
- Do you need to use Flash to use BlueJeans for Facebook? One of my clients that was testing the integration for live streaming hit an issue with an error message appearing saying they did not have Adobe Flash Player installed – all they needed to do to rectify the issue was contact BlueJeans support through live chat who sent them the correct version of Adobe Flash Player. If you do not have the ability to run Flash note that BlueJeans have implemented WebRTC for Google Chrome, so users can enter into the meeting from the browser without having to download any software.
Fifteen Reasons To Consider Using BlueJeans Primetime For Facebook Live
A lot of people may dismiss BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live – for example those working with production teams or those that want a free solution. Some people are also waiting to find out what multi person live streams and desktop access for live streaming on Facebook will be like (both features that are said to be available in the future from Facebook).
Here are seven key reasons I believe many small and medium businesses may want to explore the platform as a way to live stream to Facebook Live:
- BlueJeans Primetime provides an easy way to have multi-person live streams to Facebook Live and so you do not have to have technical challenges with live stream interviews such as having to route the audio or the impact on the CPU
- Unlike some organisations, BlueJeans has 24×7 customer support 5 days a week and weekend support by email – in my personal experience this has been prompt, though this week I have found the response time very slow which is probably as a result of them not scaling up sufficiently to meet demands for the product
- You can gather your guests pre and post the live stream in a green room to discuss the event
- You can bring your audience into the BlueJeans meeting room and bring them on stage at any time with great ease – or you could invite them into a conversation for the after-show as I do on my live stream
- You can host multi person live streams with guests attending on desk top or iOS (Android is coming this year it is anticipated)
- You can host live streams without having to hire a third party production team or investing in live stream software, hardware and training your own team to become live stream producers
- Versus the current live stream feature natively with Facebook Live from your mobile device, you can stream in landscape so your replay can be easily re-purposed to platforms such as Vimeo, YouTube and even Twitter
- You get access to a quality recording of the live stream from the BlueJeans platform – this is a higher quality than is available on Facebook when you download the archive stream
- You can easily share your screen on the live stream in high definition – this is not possible by changing the camera on Facebook live streams so sharing your screen is a sub optimal experience
- You can easily share video content in your live stream by uploading it to BlueJeans – take care that you only share what you have the rights to as Facebook does stop live streams for breach of copyright
- As a host, you can have multiple camera angles in one event – this was something that was pioneered in Google Hangouts on Air with chefs and cooks and now you can achieve this with multiple devices
- You can have multiple moderators in the event which is helpful for large events – just make sure you assign accountabilities
- The live stream to Facebook is very high quality compared to most other platforms, unless you are using third party streaming software with high end specs on your PC
- You will get live online training and assistance to help you get started with live streaming to Facebook – though it is unclear if this will continue in the months ahead after the initial launch
- Because of the way the API for Facebook has been implemented for the live stream feature, you can access the embed code for the live stream BEFORE it streams on Facebook so you could drive people to a landing page on your website to watch the live event.
Update From The BlueJeans Team 6 October 2016
An outstanding issue for people who have been testing BlueJeans for Facebook Live is what the price will be and if the product is just for enterprise organisations.
I previously covered the target market for BlueJeans for Facebook Live in this article where I shared part of the conversation we had on the Live Stream Insiders show with the Senior Product Manager for BlueJeans.
On the 6 October 2016, the BlueJeans team published a post on their blog confirming that the product is for small businesses. I look forward to hearing more details from them in the weeks ahead.
Let me know if you are experimenting with BlueJeans Primetime for Facebook Live and what your experience is.
