But what about streaming on your own? What if you want to go online and share your own thoughts, impressions, and experiences? Here are a few tips for you:
Choose a platform wisely. Each website has its own restrictions and peculiarities. YouTube is very strict about its copyright policies, while on Twitch you can’t save your content permanently. There are also restreaming options for your content to be broadcast to multiple platforms at the same time. So, before settling on a platform, consider all the pros and cons.
Read the platform’s terms and conditions. Yes, we’re all guilty of skipping those longreads all apps and services throw our way and just agreeing to anything. However, when it comes to putting such content as live streams online, you need to make sure you know what you’re allowed and not allowed to do. If you’re not that good at reading legal documents on your own, at least find a good, comprehensive summary. It’s better to be prepared than landing yourself in hot water.
Define your identity. People watch live streams not only for the content but also for the personality. Find what you’re good at and emphasize it to your audience. With time, you’ll acquire your own set of inside jokes and memes with the viewers. Add a distinctive visual to it, and you get an identity specific to your content and no-one else’s.
Experiment! Nothing in streaming is set in stone. You may change the topics of your content, switch platforms and streaming software, try various formats, nicknames – anything! It may take time for you to find what's most enjoyable for you. And later this may change. Don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone. This may show the audience the beauty of your true colors.
Save your streams to your hard drive. You never know when you may need it. For example, you may decide to compile a highlights video from several streams. Can you record your life stream back from the platform? Yes, but it's not convenient and may significantly decrease the final video quality. Also, your video may get taken down for one reason or another, and you may have to edit and re-upload it later. We highly recommend you store your streams on a hard drive so that you won’t lose this content later on.