by Bethany Jett, @BetJett

**update 10.18.16: FireTalk is now charging for their services, with the exception of a free ten minutes maximum.**

In last week’s post we discussed Facebook Live. This week, let’s chat about how to livestream with other people. Facebook Live will have two-person broadcasting capabilities in the future, according to an article in TechCrunch.com. That will be a-MAY-zing since so many of us writers already have an audience, friends, followers, and readers on Facebook.

Until that glorious day, there are other livestreaming apps that allow you to broadcast with more than just yourself. The possibilities are endless here. Blab.im is a popular medium, but like we mentioned last week, they’re taking a hiatus and restructuring. Weekly blabbers had to find a different place for their shows, and my new personal favorite is FireTalk.com.

I’ve used FireTalk twice now, so I’m still learning the ins-and-outs. Apparently you can go live as a broadcaster at any time without scheduling an event, but I haven’t used that feature yet. Instead, since I want to promote my link and show on Facebook, I’m using the Schedule an Event feature.

Get Started on FireTalk

1. Using the Chrome or Internet Explorer browser  (not Safari *insert sad face*) sign up for an account. Right now you can only have one account but that may change in the future. This will be helpful if you want to have a personal account and then a separate one for your business.
2. At the top of the menu header, click on Schedule an Event. It will open a window that shows two options: Pay-Per-View or Free Entry. Unless you’re selling tickets to a live event, click Free Entry.
3. A new window will open for you to add your event details. Enter your information. When you get to Event Visibility, you can choose to have your video (which is auto-saved) public or unlisted. Choose what’s right for you depending on your content.
4. Click the red Schedule Event button. Ta-da!

Things to Know

1. There is no way to begin your live event early. It will auto-begin at the designated time. I believe there are ways to edit your video once you’re done, so you can choose to start a few minutes early to give yourself a small window of time to get set up and let people into the room.
2. There is no mute button. This is a feature I would LOVE to see on here.
3. You can block a user who is spamming or offensive, aka a “troll.” If you’re a Periscope user or viewer, you may have heard of the No Grace Policy for trolls. If someone is being offensive, don’t talk to or engage them. Simply boot them or block them. To do this in FireTalk, click on their name in the chat. In the top left corner of their profile window is a circle with a line through it. Click it and they will go away.
4. Speaking of trolls, be careful who you let in as a guest. As the broadcaster host, you can let (up to 10 I think) other users come in and stream with you.
5. You can screenshare! This is a wonderful feature of FireTalk that Blab didn’t have without extra software. You will have to install an extension, but this was easily done in 1-2 clicks and it didn’t interrupt my stream at all.Yesterday we chatted about Pinterest in our Writers Chat livestream and it was awesome to be able to pull up Pinterest and show tips and tricks live. Another cool feature is that the screenshare doesn’t remove the person who is sharing their screen from the video. Instead, the screenshare goes widescreen and the broadcasters become smaller windows at the bottom of the screen.

How to Integrate FireTalk with your Facebook Audience

If you have an audience on Facebook, you can integrate FireTalk easily. There are share buttons on the screen for you to share upcoming events on your personal page. I’d love it if I could share directly into a group or my author page, but right now it’s set up to share on my personal page only.

You can also do the keyboard shortcut Cmd + L (mac) or Cntrl + L (PC) to highlight the URL after you schedule an event, then Cmd + C or Cntrl + C to copy it. Go to Facebook and paste  the URL wherever you want to share the event.

Feel free to start a new Facebook group if you’re just getting started. If you want to create a Bible Study or small group, it’s a great way to allow people who don’t live near you to join in on the discussions. During the week or in between broadcasts, keep the conversation going in Facebook. There are lots of awesome ways we can use this platform.

[reminder]Have you used FireTalk? How can you utilize this in your ministry or writing career?[/reminder]

Bethany Jett is an award-winning author of The Cinderella Rule, speaker, ghostwriter, and founder of JETTsetter Ink, a consulting and editing company. She has written for numerous publications, created the My Moments Planner, Serious Writer Companion, and is the founder of Serious Writer Academy and the Build Your Brand Program.

Bethany is a military wife and all-boys-mama who is addicted to suspense novels and all things girly. She writes on how to live a brilliant life at BethanyJett.com. Connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest,  Instagram, and Twitter.