Facebook Live Button
Use Facebook Live on your profile, page and group:
Want to use Facebook Live from your Computer?
…On your Facebook Profile, Page or Group?
…For Free? On your Mac or PC?
However, even if you don’t have access to Facebook Live on your phone, you are now able to use Facebook Live on your profile, pages or groups and you can do this from my computer.
You can use multiple cameras, videos and images all with slick transitions.
Cool eh? Want to know how? Watch my walk-through video and read on…!
#1 Download OBS Studio
OBS Studio is a free alternative to the Live Webcasting software Wirecast. It does pretty much the same thing, although it’s perhaps a little more fiddly to use. But it is free and available for Windows, Mac and Linux!
Facebook Live with Wirecast
UPDATE: I’ve published a guide on how to use Wirecast to broadcast to Facebook Live to your profile, pages and group. Click here to view.
OBS Studio can use many different sources for your live stream including:
- Multiple webcams
- DSLR cameras
- Image and Videos on your computer
- Your phone’s camera (via an IP Camera app)
- Your display
- A Window on your computer
It supports multiple displays at the same time (including picture-in-picture) and you can easily set up keyboard shortcuts with slick scene transitions.
OBS Studio allows you to stream to a plethora of services including Facebook Live and YouTube.
So, head on down to the Open Broadcaster Software website and Download OBS Studio
IMPORTANT! Please download OBS Studio on the right (for Windows, Mac or Linux) and not the old OBS Classic (Windows Only). OBS Studio has built in support for Facebook Live while the classic version does not.
#2 Get your Stream Key
In order to start streaming to Facebook Live, you need a Stream Key and the ability to publish a live video via Facebook.
First of all, do you want to go live from your Facebook page or your profile?
There is a different method for each…
Go Live with your Page…
The easiest way to go live on your Facebook Page via your computer is to use the button at the top of this page.
However, the traditional way to go live from your page is to use the “Publishing Tools” on your page.
Log on to your Facebook page and click on Publishing Tools in the top menu:
Then click on Videos on the left menu:
Then click on the +Live button on the top right:
Then click preview and fill in your update text and video information:
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You can’t go live yet, since you’ll need to enter the stream key into OBS and start your stream so that Facebook can receive it.
Once Facebook receives your stream it will no longer display “OFFLINE” and will start to display your stream preview. Now skip to #3
Go Live with your Profile on your timeline or Group:
If you want to go live via your Facebook profile and share to your own timeline, a friend’s timeline or a group you’ll need to do things a little differently.
Facebook doesn’t give you Publishing Options for profiles. They do, however, provide developers the Live Video API.
That’s fine for developers, but not very helpful for everyone else!
So, I’ve made it easier for you all by creating a button that connects to Facebook Live using the official Live Video API. All you need to do is click the button above!
So what are you waiting for?
Firstly, Click on the “Broadcast on Facebook Live” button above (at the top of this article).
Then, choose whether you want to go live on your profile or group and click next:
A pop-up window should appear. If it does not, you’ll need to check your pop-up settings to allow pop-ups.
In the pop-up, enter your update text and video information:
You can’t go live yet since you’ll need to enter the stream key into OBS and start your stream so that Facebook can receive it.
Once Facebook receives your stream it will no longer display “OFFLINE” and display your stream preview.
#3 Start Streaming
Click settings in OBS Studio and then click stream in the left menu.
Select “Streaming Services” as the Stream Type and “Facebook Live” as the service.
Paste the stream key you obtained from the previous step into the “Stream Key” box:
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You shouldn’t need to enter the server URL because OBS uses the standard URL.
Click Apply and OK.
Make sure you have selected a video source (such as your webcam) and that you can see this in the preview section.
Then click the “Start Streaming” button:
Go back to the Facebook Live pop-up window in your browser.
After a few seconds, it should display "Fetching Video Stream"
And then after a few more seconds, display your stream in all its glory:
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Please note, there will be a few seconds delay in the stream. This is normal.
IMPORTANT! If you are testing, it is a good idea to select “Only Me” for the “Who should see this?” option.
That way no one else will see the live video while you are testing. You could then view your live video on a secondary device such as your smartphone:
If you are happy to go live click the “Go Live” button in the browser window:
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The pop-up window will then close. Don’t worry, you have gone live! Check your feed and you should see your live video has appeared.
That’s it. Enjoy!
Facebook Live Demonstration
Here is a Facebook Live video I created earlier which goes through the set up above
