January 20, 2017
Facebook Live is on every lip and every screen. Add to that Periscope and YouTube Live, and there’s no denying that Live is king on social media! Even Snapchat and Instagram stories fall within this trend towards spontaneity. Does this mean Live-tweeting has reached its expiry date?
In case you’ve been living in a cave for the last decade, live-tweeting consists of broadcasting events’ key moments, using a dedicated hashtag to enable Twitter users to follow what’s going on (whether they follow you or not).
Remember that (usually giant) screen showing short videos, pictures, and other flashes of wit, followed by a specific hashtag at the last conference you went to? That would be it!
But with the massive wave of Live social videos now taking over feeds, are even these short-form statements becoming obsolete?
Not just yet! Live-tweeting has more than one trick up its sleeve!
It’s still the best way to catch the punch line of a conference, or summarise it in a couple of essential points. Facebook Live is great, but it can’t really do that just yet. It’s more time consuming, and requires some more availability – not to mention doesn’t edit out the fluff and awkward jokes. The unlucky person that got stuck at the office instead of sipping champagne and stuffing their face with canapes with you will be grateful to you for saving their time, and keeping your updates to the essential, (ok, maybe bragging a little too, but mainly focusing on the key points).
It may be because there are fewer people than on Facebook, or maybe because the audience uses the platform differently, or the themes are different, but Live-tweets also tend to be less subjected to snappy comments (that’s enough bragging about the mini-burgers!), and do not cause so much controversy.
Live-tweeting is also very easy to set up because you don’t really need any additional tech. It complements video rather than competing with it directly, and addresses a different audience.
Here are three key tips to help you live-tweet successfully.
- Arrived prepared – know the handles of the speakers and the event hashtag
- Don’t rush even if things are a little frenzy. Take the time to write and check your tweets before posting them.
- Make sure it’s worth posting, nobody is going to care about a dark blurry picture that may or may not be the speaker.