Going Live on Social Media

 

The trend on social media today is pictures and video. We’ve talked about Instagram, a picture-based social media platform, and TikTok, a video-based one. Other apps support images and video such as YouTube (a familiar one), Facebook Live, and Twitch. These apps, including Instagram, can allow users to do live or recorded videos to promote their platforms.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I attended a great class taught by Shannon Kauderer, the ML of the Albany NaNoWriMo group (https://www.shannonyseult.com and on Twitter @SYseult). In the class, she discussed various ways to go live, including the apps listed above. Each has its own way of broadcasting your message, and Shannon has great information about recording. Rather than getting into the specifics of setting up each platform, I’ll keep to the basics.

YouTube is a video-sharing platform. You can record your videos offline as well as in real-time. This app allows thousands of users to find your material through keywords. To start, make an account with an appropriate screen name. Then click the movie camera in the right corner. Choose Upload Video or Go Live. The first option throws you into the YouTube Studio, where you upload an already created vid. Give it a name and create a good thumbnail (small pic to represent the vid, preferably not one with your mouth open, just saying). Scroll down to advanced options to add categories, subtitles, tags, and more. Each vid you add will be part of your channel. Users can subscribe to it and see you at any time. If you chose the Go Live option, you may need to verify your phone number first. Elect to do it Right Now! or schedule it for the future. YouTube walks you through the steps. Be sure your camera is ready.

Facebook Live is another choice for doing streaming videos. To record in real-time with your profile, the button is an option on your status update. Clicking the button puts you in the Live Production area. Determine when to record, where to post the video, even opt to record with others. Like YouTube, there are many options for the stream. Scan through the page and find all the bells and whistles.

Twitch is a live-streaming forum that might be new to some. Gamers use this platform to play their games live with audiences watching. There are already a ton of authors using this app for read-alouds, talks, and writing sprints. Twitch has a chat option to have users interact with you as you broadcast. Like the other services, have your camera and microphone ready. Twitch, like YouTube, gives you a channel. Customize it to fit your brand with tags under the Creator Dashboard. Each video becomes part of your channel. Users can subscribe, and monetizing differs from YouTube. Here you can get tips directly from users.

I’ve already hinted at this feature on Instagram using Your Story or Reels to record live. Also TikTok is a popular option for doing real-time broadcasts. Needless to say, you have so many choices. Pick on and go.

And do what exactly, Ginny?

I’m glad you asked.

Streaming videos and digital channels are the future of social media. Look at how TikTok has taken off. Users want to see video content, memes, and live streams. Give them what they want. Create live events for unboxing your latest book or a dramatic cover reveal. Read aloud from a backlist book or create a book trailer. Start community discussion or live writing events. The chat in Twitch allows you to interact directly with the audience. Live stream signing events, conferences, workshops (that you teach), or you walking your dog. The content is up to you. And if you record it, they will watch.

Go forth, my writers, and record it all. You’d be amazing at what the readers love to watch.

 

 

 

Discord Part 2

Now that you’ve tried out Discord (or just read about it), let’s dive deeper.

I mentioned before that servers can have roles. To create them, click on the down arrow next to the server name on the top left. Go to go Settings. The list will include Roles, Emojis, Stickers, and more advanced things. Click on Roles, and add any ones you may wish. For example, I choose Reader and Author roles. All roles have certain permissions. You can even assign colors to each role to see the difference in the feed. Under the Permissions tab are various entitlements you can assign to roles. Be careful about letting someone else manage your server. You might lose it. But you give permissions for small things such as allowing users to kick someone out or not allowing them to change their nickname.

For assigning roles, I went to my expert—the fourteen-year-old. Owners of the servers can assign roles to members under that same Settings tab (top left down arrow). Click on Members and then the Plus sign next to the user. Choose an already created role. For those starting out, it’s best to do the assignments yourself. You can interact with users to ask what role they want. If you have many users, consider using a bot to auto-assign roles as people join the servers. My limited research showed that Mee6 bot and Dyno bot work well. (More on bots soon.)

You can also view your server as the various roles you created. This will let you see what your users are seeing and ensure everyone is on the correct channels. For writers, having a “spoiler” role can allow those who wish to discuss your newest book’s details permission to use your Spoiler channel. To view roles, click on Roles in the Setting menu. Choose a role and click on the Display tab. On the bottom of the screen is View Server as Role. Notice there is an Everyone role. This role allows you to broadcast a message and pings everyone on the server. Use a @ before a role to ping that group, e.g. @everyone.

As your audience gets larger, you will need to find some trustworthy people to help manage it. Choose their name under Membership and give them a role such as Moderator or King of Channel X, however you want to phrase it. Then add permissions to that role, such as banning members or muting members in the voice channel. Again, you’ll need to do this if the server is getting big and unmanageable. Spam happens, and proactive management will help ensure it doesn’t take over.

Bots are programs added through third parties to make your servers more exciting, fun, or workable. They are basically AI that can perform minor tasks for you with just a command. To get a bot, start with a Google search with the words Discord, bot, and what you are looking for (like management, music, etc.). For example, let’s say you want to use Mee6 for management and have it create a welcome for all new users. Google search for the bot and download it from their site. Most bot sites will look similar to Discord and have a large Add to Discord button. You must allow the bot permissions and basically invite it to your server. So far, I haven’t found one how will make me a mixtape or buy me a seafood dinner. Oh, well.

Once bots are installed, many have slash commands. These commands allow you to engage the bot for its purpose. There’s a bit of code-speak with these commands. For example, on the NaNoAlbany server, they use Sprinto to manage writing sprints. Commands for this bot include _sprint :Time :Length (:00 :30), which creates a thirty-minute sprint that starts at the top of the hour. It also uses _join to join in a writing sprint, _forgetme to get out of the sprint, and _wc Number (your word count) to tell the bot how much you wrote. This is just one example of a bot. Other bots do different tasks Groovy for music, Dank Memer for memes, Starbot to track your stats, and many more. Do the research and find the ones that work for you.

I’m still experimenting myself by joining communities and starting my own server to see what might happen. If you want to join me, here’s the link. I’m still adding content, users, and bots, so it’s tiny. But, together, we can build a community.

 

 

 

 

Discord

 

Discord is a direct-messaging chat forum program with tons of bells and whistles. Essentially, it’s a platform to chat with other users about presented topics or form your own chat groups. It’s easy to sign up, easy to use, and best of all, it’s free for chatting. Community is the key to this app, and the writing community is there.

The program can be downloaded to your computer or phone on either Mac/PC or Android/iPhone. Or you can use it on a browser screen on either platform. Create an account with your email, add a username and password, and you are good to go. Discord firsts asks you if you wish to make your own server. Servers are essentially big rooms that are divided up into more rooms. Usually, these servers are differentiated by interest—gaming, writing, fandoms, whatever you wish. Let’s skip this and look at channels.

Once you create a username and arrive in cyberspace (man, I’m old), you can search for interest groups, friends, or random topics. On your home screen, you can click the “Explore Public Servers” button and see a huge list of servers to try. Remember, you will chat either through text, voice, or video and voice. On the left are topics to choose from: Gaming, Music, Education, Entertainment, Science & Tech, and School Hubs. (School Hubs are new to the platform and are for students.) You can also search topics such as Writing.

Click on a server of interest and view all the topics along the left side. Click on a topic to read all the posts (or some posts, I’m not judging). Topics with new posts are highlighted to find easily. To chat, click on the text field at the bottom of the screen and type. Make your posts more fun with emojis, or click on a reaction emoji to someone else’s comment. Stickers and GIFs can be added as well.

And that will get you started. There’s more to Discord with the voice chat and streaming with your camera. There are also bots on the servers to help with automated tasks. My Albany NaNo group uses one to control our sprints, so no one has to be on the timer and miss out.

How can authors use this forum as part of their social media platform? Back to creating a server! If you create a server (a bulletin board room full of just your topics), you can organize conversations about your books, social media, research, spoiler groups… I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Click the plus button and create your server. If you don’t know where you’re going yet, no worries. You can change things later. Give it a name and go. Discord puts you in to your server. There are lists along the side to add channels or threads within the server. Add one for fans, one for other writers, or one with only pet pictures—whatever you need or want. Then invite other users. You can directly invite people you are already friends with or send out a general invite by adding the link on your social media, newsletter, or direct messages. Add text channels by clicking the small + sign near the page named General. These channels will be where your friends and fans can talk about books, movies, pets, recipes, whatever you wish. Here’s the great thing, you don’t need to make multiple servers. Channels can be changed to private and you can restrict the number of messages. This lets you have channels that need permissions to access. Maybe one channel is for authors only or spoilers for your latest novels. That lets you keep a rein on what happens in your channels. Remember to set up a “Rules for Use” channel, to keep everyone on the same page.

Why Discord and not a Facebook fan group? Facebook is great for finding readers but tough to divide up groups for real conversation. You can have threads on Facebook, but Discord can keep things organized, private, and streamlined. Rather than creating a Spoiler group for each of your books, you can have a spoiler channel to cover everything. Readers can explore their areas and hit on multiple topics rather than scrolling through pages and pages of Facebook comments.

My fourteen-year-old informs me that this post is missing “sooooo very much, Mom.” Considering her recommendations and expertise, I’ll post a Discord Part 2 next week.