Share your screen in a Facebook Live using BeLive.tv Talk Show

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If you are using Facebook Live for content marketing, education or social selling you will probably have looked to explore live stream tools (other than switching the orientation of your camera) if you want to share your screen or a presentation.

I reported on my weekly live stream show that BeLive.tv had recently enabled the opportunity to share images during a live stream, To do this you need to enable access to your Facebook account and you can bring images onscreen that are in a public or private Facebook pictures album from your profile or a Page you manage.

This week, they released the opportunity to share your screen – at the time of writing this article, the feature is only available to a few people. It will be more widely available while they are testing the feature and seeking feedback over the forthcoming weeks.

BeLive.tv, as I have written about previously, allows you to stream to Facebook Live from your desktop with up to three people on screen (a beta feature) – please note you need to use the Chrome browser. As it is currently in beta, the platform is free to use.

You can read my introduction to using Belive.tv for Facebook Live in this article, learn how you can schedule your live streams with BeLive.tv in this article and also discover how you can have three people on screen and guests in the green room with the Belive.tv Talk Show feature here.

This new screen sharing feature requires you to use the Talk Show feature.

It should be noted that BeLive.tv is in Beta and has not yet released pricing – the new Talk Show feature is available to some beta testers by invitation. Also, note that as this feature is in development so when it is finally made available some features may operate differently from thought outlined in this tutorial so ensure you check the details with BeLive.tv first or schedule a private training session with me to discuss how to best use the app for your organisations live streams to Facebook Live.

As a reminder before you get started, when you log into BeLive.tv you will need to make the following choices:

Select the Talk Show format for your live stream
Add an enagaging title to your stream which will be the ‘hook’ with which you can attract your Facebook Live audience
Add a title for your show which will help you find it on your BeLive.tv dashboard – this is not shared publically
Decide if you wish to create a scheduled live stream or want to go live immediately
Decide if you want to add a custom logo to your live stream
Determine where you wish to stream to on Facebook Live – a group, your profile, a page you manage or an event.

You will be prompted with a reminder of the actions to take before you start your live stream including:

inviting guests into the lobby by sharing with them your guest link for the show
changing the layouts to create an interactive live stream which is visually engaging
preparing your agenda to help you keep the show ‘on track’ and to provide visual call-outs on your live stream to help your viewers understand what you are covering in the show at any specific time – this feature can also be used for calls to action.

In the lobby are on BeLive.tv you will now see three options – to connect your camera (which you will need to do to live stream), add images from your Facebook photo albums to share in the live stream and the new option to share your desktop.

Before doing anything else, you need to check your camera and mic settings before connecting your camera. Make sure any guests you have jining the live stream do the same.

To enable the screen sharing feature on the BeLive.tv Talk Show, you will need to add the beLive Chrome screen share extension.

In my case, I use two screens connected to my computer so I was able to select which screen I wanted to bring into my live stream. If you are using only one screen I recommend that you open your BeLive.tv in one browser and then have the tabs for the screens you want to share

If you are using only one screen, I recommend that you open your BeLive.tv in one browser and then have the tabs for the screens you want to share open in a separate browser which will make it easier for you to navigate between the BeLive interface and the infomation you share in the live stream.

As I mentioned previously in this article, you can share images during the live stream from your Facebook albums – I recommend adding them into your lobby before you start your show.

It should be noted that you must add an active video stream before you can start to live stream to Facebook Live.

Before you get started with your live stream I would add information to the Agenda which you can bring on screen during the show – this also helps you manage your live stream so you have some prompts of the topics you plan to cover as it is easy to get distracted if you do not have much experience of live video when interacting with comments from your viewers.

I found that if I brought an image and a screen share into the broadcast section on BeLive.tv then I was able to start the live stream – however as my camera was not in the broadcast section, I would not be heard. This could, however, be a good way to start the show to tell people you will be starting shortly.

When you are live streaming, you will be able to use one of the layout formats to decide what appears on the screen – in the image below you can see a live stream on Facebook Live and I have my camera in the bottom left of the screen with the screen share sharing how to create animations using Canva filling the screen.

Because you have the option of having three cameras on screen at the same time, you could choose between showcasing a guest, bringing in a screen share, having yourself on camera and adding images from your Facebook album on the screen.

Three Ways To Use The Screen Sharing Feature For Facebook Live With BeLive.tv

If you are not sure of the possibilities for your live streams with this new feature here are three ideas of how you could use screen sharing with BeLive.tv Talk Show:

if you are an educator you could deliver tutorials by sharing your screen – in my example above I showed how you could use the new Canva update which allows you to create animated gifs and short videos from the visual content you create
you could share presentations during your live stream, just as you might with a webinar – I take this approach using BlueJeans onSocial when live streaming my weekly show all about live video tips, case studies and tutorials
if you are using Facebook Live for social selling, you could share your screen to show the testimonials on your website and your sales page to help you convert viewers to buyers while watching your live stream.

What other ideas do you have for live streaming on Facebook live and sharing your screen?

Features I Would Like To See With The Screenshare Feature On BeLive.tv

BeLive.tv provided access to a number of people for feedback as this is a product in beta that they are developing – here are some of the features I would like to see added to enhance this very easy to use addition to the platform:

Sharing a tab or app from my screen not just the full screen – this would enable me to use tools like Reflector to reflect my phone onto my screen and share only that in a live stream
The ability to crop into an area of the screen to focus on rather than having to share a full screen
The ability for me to be off screen and then my voice can narrate over the screen share or make my video with my camera smaller and able to be moved wherever I want on the screen as the camera can get in the way of the screen
I found I could start a live stream if I had the screen share and a photo at the same time and was not on camera in the broadcast area – if audio was enabled and the broadcaster is off camera, this could be a good way for people to create an interesting introduction to a show
Adding images to Facebook albums during a show does not let them be accessed during the live stream – it would be good if this could be fixed should a broadcaster need to add content in real time to a live stream
As video can be added to Facebook albums it would be interesting to see if they could be accessed and shared on BeLive
I would recommend adding a copyright statement on the interface of the live stream before it starts to make sure that the broadcaster is reminded to share content they have permission to which will reduce the likelihood of Facebook deleting the stream due to a rights issue.