Instagram Live doesn’t have to be a one-way street. If smashing that heart button isn’t enough, if commenting isn’t satiating your need for interaction, now you can join the stream yourself.
From the requester’s view. (Photo: Instagram )
Bringing a guest to share the screen isn’t exactly new, but it used to be at the broadcaster’s discretion. The livestreamer still controls who gets to join the stream, but, TechCruch reports, viewers of a livestream can now request to join.
TechCrunch points out the utility:
Imagine a celebrity “taking calls” from fans. With the ability to see all pending requests, a host could pick a fan to join them live at random, or even selectively pick someone who just made an insightful comment in the chat.
Now, when you’re watching an Instagram Live stream, you’ll see an option folded in among the live comments to request to join the livestream. (If you don’t see it, scroll up in the comments.) If you click “request”, Instagram asks you to confirm the request, while reminding you, “Anyone can watch, and some of your followers may get notified.” Once you send the request, the streamer has the option to accept or decline.
The livestreamer’s view. (Photo: Instagram)
On the streamer side, you’ll see requests to join your stream in the notifications stream. Tap “view” to decide if you want to add the guest or decline their request. And you can still invite any viewer to join you – it’s a two-way livestream street.
You can now request to join someone’s Instagram live stream [TechCrunch]
Comments