Salesforce, Python, SQL, & other ways to put your data where you need it

Need event music? 🎸

Live and recorded jazz, pop, and meditative music for your virtual conference / Zoom wedding / yoga class / private party with quality sound and a smooth technical experience

Scheduling a Facebook Live video

21 Apr 2020 🔖 music
💬 EN

Table of Contents

Want to schedule Facebook Live videos, then use a smartphone or tablet to actually stream from? (The “Facebook” apps don’t let you broadcast to a pre-scheduled stream.) Below is the step-by-step process I follow when helping friends and family set up.

Pen and pencil first

Don’t continue until you’ve followed my creative / marketing instructions.


Schedule Your Broadcast

Screenshot of scheduling a video

Visit Facebook’s Live Producer panel

Fire up a web browser on a desktop or laptop computer. Not a phone or tablet.

Visit https://facebook.com/live/producer.

Schedule your broadcast

In the upper left, click “Schedule a Live Video” so that it’s highlighted blue instead of “Go Live Now” being highlighted blue.

Date and Time

At left, under “Announcement Post,” set a date and time for your scheduled livestream.

Broadcast Destination

Below that, just underneath your name, drop down the picklist that says “Share to Your Timeline” and choose an option.

  1. If I choose “Share to your Timeline,” I will broadcast as myelf, and the Facebook Friends I interact with most will see “Katie Kodes has scheduled a live video” in their Facebook notifications.
    • That said, I might be shy and not want random strangers who like the Flying Lemons Band hanging out on my personal Facebook wall.
    • If you broadcast from your own timeline, you should probably set the privacy (just below this picklist) to “Public.” Not only will that ensure strangers can watch you play, but it also means that after the livestream, your great-uncle without a Facebook account can watch the recording (as long as you get him the right URL and walk him through clicking “Not Now” when bothered to log in).
  2. If I choose “Share to a Page You Manage,” I can broadcast as the Flying Lemons Band, and people “following” that page who check in on it a lot will see “Flying Lemons Band has scheduled a live video” in their Facebook notifications.
    • I’ll have to grab the link to the band’s “announcement” and do some legwork sharing it on my own timeline and encouraging my friends/family to “Get Reminded” about the show and “follow” the band’s Facebook page, but this is probably the most appropriate venue from which to broadcast.
  3. If I choose “Share in a Group,” I can broadcast to a group – public, secret, or closed – that I have admin rights over.
    • This might be a good way to do a private party, if all the party guests have Facebook accounts and can become members of the group.
    • Note: I haven’t actually played with this yet … I’ve just heard it can be done.

Title

Into the gray single-line box labeled “Live video title (optional),” type the title you drafted.

Video Description

Next, at left, below the title, in the multi-line “Say something about this live video…” box, type up the “announcement description” you drafted.

You’re going to mess with things here a bit later, but put the “announcement description” here for now.

Placeholder Image

Using the blue “Select an Image” button, upload the photo or graphic you decided would make a nice stand-in for the video before your event starts.

Settings

In the middle of the page, expand the “Stream” section in the box labeled “Settings.”

Un-check the box called “End live video if stream stops.”

You don’t want an internet connection blip messing up your livestream.

Gather Information

DON’T click “Schedule Live Video” just yet! Don’t!!

I have some information for you to write down.

Current URL

Take a look at your web browser’s URL bar.

Is your current page of the format https://facebook.com/live/producer/schedule/01234567890123456789?

Write down that 01234567890123456789-type number after the world /schedule/. I’m 90% sure it’ll be your “video ID,” which you’re going to need.

(We’ll double-check it later and you can throw it away if I turn out to be wrong.)

Stream Key
Choose persistent or not

In the top-center section of the page, in the box labeled “Get Started,” play with toggling the “Use a Persistent Stream Key” checkbox.

Note how, to the right of that, in the “Stream Key” box, the value changes when you check and un-check the setting.

When it’s checked, the value under “Stream Key” is always the same, no matter how many times you play with the toggle.

This is your ultra-secret key FOR LIFE.

Well, actually … it’s the ultra-secret-key-for-life of the “broadcast destination” you chose earlier. You’ll have one key-for-life for your personal Timeline, another for the Flying Lemons page, another for posting to the “Frances Fulvia’s best friends” group, etc.

But, for any given “broadcast destination,” the “Persistent Stream Key” will never change.

I find that there’s a lot of convenience in using a “persistent stream key.” They’re long and annoying to type into tiny mobile phone interfaces, so it’s nice to save it into my “Larix Broadcaster” mobile app just once per “broadcast destination.”

On the other hand … they never change, so if the secret gets out, anyone who has that secret can pretend to be me, and livestream unpleasant things as me, for life.

When the “Use a Persistent Stream Key” checkbox is un-checked, note that it isn’t generating yet another key every time you toggle the checkbox. For this particular instance of scheduling a broadcast, the “stream key” that Facebook picked for you the moment you clicked “Schedule a Live Video” several steps ago is the stream key for this scheduled broadcast.

Except that I guess maybe it isn’t? Apparently it “expires” 7 days after you schedule the livestream. Not sure how you get a fresh one for the livestream if not using a persistent key. Haven’t tried it yet myself. I’m sure it’s possible.

Anyway … whichever one you choose …

Write down the key

WRITE DOWN the value under “Stream Key.” Yup. All of it.

If it’s a persistent stream key, it consists of:

  1. A 15- to 20-digit number
  2. The phrase ?s_bl=1&s_ps=1&s_sw=0&s_vt=api-s&a=
  3. About a 15-character code made up of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and numbers

If it’s a broadcast-specific stream key, it consists of:

  1. A 15- to 20-digit number
  2. The phrase ?s_bl=1&s_sc=
  3. Another 15- to 20-digit number
  4. The phrase &s_sw=0&s_vt=api-s&a=
  5. About a 15-character code made up of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and numbers

Make sure you click into the “Stream Key” box and use the left and right arrows on your keyboard to expose the whole code – it’s longer than the box is wide.

In addition to writing down this whole “stream key” on paper, I recommend using the “Copy” button next to the box and pasting it into a text editor like Notepad on your computer and saving it into a file. Be sure to write what it is (e.g. “Facebook Live Stream Key for our Sat 4/25 8PM broadcast from the Flying Lemons page”).

Schedule your video

Now you can click the big blue “Schedule Live Video” button in the lower-left corner of the screen.

Screenshot of scheduling a video

When Facebook is done, it will pop up a confirmation box labeled “Schedule Live” that says, “The live has been successfully scheduled [your date and time here].”

Click the blue “Close” button.


Post-Scheduling Followup

Double-check the video ID and write it down

Facebook will redirect you from https://facebook.com/live/producer/schedule/01234567890123456789 to https://facebook.com/live/producer/01234567890123456789 (that is, it drops “/schedule/” from the URL).

It is still the same 01234567890123456789 number that you wrote down before, isn’t it?

If not, write down this number, too. (It might be your “video ID”?)

Before inspecting your newly-improved Live Producer panel any further …

Open up a second tab in your web browser and visit the home page of the “broadcast destination” you chose in a way that allows you to see the most recent thing “posted” to Facebook.

  1. If I were hosting on my timeline, I’d go to https://facebook.com/katie.kodes.01010/
  2. If I were hosting on the Flying Lemons Band page, I’d go to https://facebook.com/FlyingLemonsBand/posts/
  3. If I were hosting in the “Frances Fulvia’s Best Friends” group, I’d go to https://facebook.com/groups/WeLoveFrancesFulvia/

I’m looking for a post that says Katie Kodes plans to go live or Flying Lemons Band plans to go live.

Screenshot of the announcement post

This post is really important, and I’ll need some information from it.

Write down the “announcement post” URL for Grandma

You’re going to want to text your grandparents this “announcement post’s” URL when they ask “how they can see you play.”

So let’s fetch it.

If I hover over the timestamp just below the name “Katie Kodes” or “Flying Lemons Band” in the “…plans to go live” text – it’s gray text saying how long ago I made this post – I’ll see that it’s a link.

Click it.

It should be formatted like one of these examples:

  • https://facebook.com/katie.kodes.01010/posts/35753575357535753
  • https://facebook.com/FlyingLemonsBand/posts/46864686468646864
  • https://facebook.com/groups/WeLoveFrancesFulvia/permalink/8624864286248642/

Write this URL down. Email it to yourself. Text it to yourself. Make it easy on yourself to remember it so you can share it with your grandparents.

Tell your grandparents to click the “Get Reminder” button, but that more importantly, the placeholder image will be replaced by your actual livestream at the scheduled time (and after it finishes, as a recording), so they should always be able to find you there, as long as they are logged into Facebook.

Although if they’re on mobile phones using web browsers instead of the Facebook app, the “actual video URL” will serve them better once it’s showtime (so Facebook doesn’t bother them to use its mobile app), but sending that URL too early might confuse them, since it will display an error until “showtime.” We’ll get to this URL later.

  • Note that the number in the URL is not the same as the number I had you write down as a likely “video ID.” It’s just the ID of your “announcement post.”

You can also write the URL of this “announcement post” in additional posts you make on your own Facebook Timeline, posts you make on various Facebook Pages you manage, in the description for a Facebook Event you’re using to rustle up support, in posts on various Facebook Groups you think might enjoy the show, etc.

In the case of posts (on your timeline, on a Page, or in a Group), as long as this URL is the first URL you mention in your post, Facebook should auto-embed a copy of the “announcement” below your post, “Get Reminder” button and all, and replace the placeholder-image with your livestream once you’re live. Cool!

Write down your actual Video ID

See the text superimposed over the bottom-right of your placeholder image reading, “Broadcaster Only: Edit Your Details”?

Click it. Look at your URL bar once the page finishes loading.

Are you at https://www.facebook.com/live/producer/01234567890123456789/, with the same “01234567890123456789” number you wrote down before?

If not, you can throw away all those “possible video IDs” you wrote down before.

Whatever comes after “/producer/” now is your confirmed “video ID.”

Note: for the rest of this tutorial, I’ll keep referring to the “video ID” as if it were “01234567890123456789.”

What can you do with this “Video ID” number?

Oh, so very much!

Uses for your Video ID

  1. At https://facebook.com/katie.kodes.01010/videos/01234567890123456789 or https://facebook.com/FlyingLemonsBand/videos/01234567890123456789, etc.
    • Your grandparents can watch your livestream while it happens, even if they’re on a mobile device in a web browser.
    • After the livestream is over, if it’s publicly viewable, your great-uncle who doesn’t even have Facebook can watch the recording from this URL (he’ll just need to click “Not Now” every time Facebook tries to prompt him to log in).
    • Be careful giving people this URL before the show starts, though, because it displays an error message until the moment you go live.
    • This is a great URL to have your sister text the whole family a minute into your broadcast.
    • If I’ve set up a Facebook Event to promote the show, I love embedding this link at the top of the description of the event, but note that you can’t edit an Event description once its “start time” has elapsed … and yet the link will be “dead” until that time … so maybe don’t include it in the Event Description until about an hour out, and also still include your “announcement post” URL so curious early-birds won’t think things are completely broken.
    • Do you trust your sister with your Facebook account password? Or to be an admin of the Flying Lemons Band page? From this URL, as long as she’s on a desktop computer (or maybe on mobile when using the app?), she can participate in replying to comments on your behalf while you play.
  2. At https://www.facebook.com/video/edit/?v=01234567890123456789, you can:
    • Edit the “video description” of a an upcoming or completed livestream
    • Choose a nicer thumbnail image for it (completed videos only)
    • Upload subtitles if you wrote them up (Yay, accessibility!)
    • Put your video into a category like “Music”
    • Tag bandmates as involved in your video
    • Note: When you click “Save” it will take you to the “great-uncle” URL I mentioned above, which doesn’t exist if your broadcast hasn’t started yet, so you’ll see an error message. Don’t worry – your changes took effect. Just reload this “edit” page to confirm, then navigate away from it by visiting, oh, the facebook.com home page or whatever, after you’re satisfied.
  3. At https://www.facebook.com/live/producer/01234567890123456789/, you can:
    • See whether your camera is working properly (please, no more than 5 hours ahead of your scheduled broadcast!)
    • Grab a copy of your “stream key,” in case you lost it

Recap: Important Things We Wrote Down

The important things we wrote down were:

  1. Our “stream key” that will let our smartphone / tablet broadcast, running the “Larix Broadcaster” app, send video and audio to Facebook on our behalf (don’t test until less than 5 hours before showtime!).
  2. Our “announcement post URL,” which is where fans can find the “Get Reminded” button and, if all else fails, watch our video. This URL will have “/posts/” or “/permalink/” in it. Also, up to 10 minutes before the show, we can find the “Broadcaster Only: Edit Your Details” link that will help us find our “Video ID” if we lost it.
  3. Our “video ID” – something like 01234567890123456789 – which we can use to edit the description of our scheduled broadcast, retrieve our “stream key” if we lost it, send our grandparents straight to the video once we go live, ensure our great-uncle without Facebook can see us after the show’s over, etc.

Attaching your “video description” to your broadcast

Okay, so we have one little problem – the Live Producer panel didn’t give us separate areas to put both an “announcement description” and a “video description.”

You worked hard on your “video description.”

It’s your moneymaker.

You want to make sure it, and not your “announcement description,” accompanies your actual video when you go live!

Here’s how to edit your video’s description and ensure you have the proper text in place:

  • Go to https://www.facebook.com/video/edit/?v=01234567890123456789, substituting your “video ID” for 01234567890123456789.
  • Edit the description, typing in the text you wrote for the “before” version of your “video description”
    • Note that you can at-tag people, groups, pages, etc. in the description if that feels relevant – e.g. when encouraging people to follow the Flying Lemons Band page?
    • @-tags” of people, pages, groups, etc. should work in the description, so feel free to use them if they seem relevant.
  • Click “Save.”

Once you’re done broadcasting, you can repeat these steps to update the “video description” to be the “after” text you drafted.

Typo? How to edit your “announcement description”

If you ever change your mind about what you’d like your “announcement post” to say at the top:

  • Visit the “announcement post’s” URL you gave your grandma
  • Click the 3 dots in the upper-right corner of the post, to the right of the “…plans to go live” text.
  • Click “Edit Post.”
  • Edit your text to contain the actual text you wanted as an “announcement description.”
  • Click the blue “Save” button.

Stock photo of a clock

Relax. Rehearse. Market.

Other than marketing work driving people to engage in the “calls to action” you have in mind before the show, you’re done until 5 hours before showtime.

Enjoy it.

Oh wait. No … go get crafty setting up a stand for your smartphone/tablet that you plan to use as a camera, shining a lamp at the place you plan to sit, wiping stains off the walls behind the place you plan to sit, getting your mixer adjusted for good sound if you’re planning to use an external audio source instead of your phone’s/tablet’s microphone for your audio, etc.

You have a lot to do. Sorry!


Stock photo of a telescope

“Dummy” broadcast how-to

Oh, dangit. Did you follow my directions and schedule a livestream before you had any idea how to test how your audio/video tech feeds through to a real Facebook Live video? Oops.

Okay, so start over on these instructions, going to https://facebook.com/live/producer.

Note that when you go there, the number after the word “/producer/” is different than the “video ID” for your scheduled show.

This is a good thing. That means it’s going to be a different livestream.

Set this one to post on your timeline with privacy of “Only Me.”

DO NOT use the “persistent” stream key option if you used it for your scheduled livestream. You don’t want to confuse Facebook and make it think you’re trying to start your scheduled livestream early while you test.

Repeat all these directions and, basically, what you’re doing is setting yourself up a second livestream for, oh, maybe 20 minutes from now.

Note that Facebook doesn’t offer a single control panel where you can see all your upcoming scheduled livestreams – this is why it’s important to always write down the “video ID” of a livestream you’ve scheduled as soon as you know it.

Alternatively, if you have a “burner” spare Facebook account, you can just stream to it while testing your broadcasting equipment.


Stock photo of a smartphone with headphones

Check Check 1 2 Check 1 2

About time for the big show? (Less than 5 hours. I’m not sure what happens if you test more than 5 hours before your scheduled start, but Facebook says not to do it).

Time to verify that your A/V makes it through to Facebook!

Set up your verification computer

Open https://www.facebook.com/live/producer/01234567890123456789/ (substituting your video ID that you’re less than 5 hours from and want to check up on) in a web browser on a desktop / laptop computer.

Scroll all the way up to the top of the page until a big black area saying “Waiting for live video” fills most of the screen.

Plug headphones into the computer. Anything you hear through this computer will be on about a 20-second delay, so it’s really confusing to hear it all the time. It’s nice to be able to take off the headphones and ignore the sound.

Set up the mobile device from which you will broadcast

Open the Larix Broadcaster app (iOS, Android) on your smartphone or tablet.

You should see whatever your mobile device’s camera is looking at, with a few icons (including a constantly-moving decibel meter) superimposed over it.

Tell Larix your broadcast’s stream key

Click the gear-shaped icon to open Larix’s settings.

Click “Connections”.

Click “New connection.”

Give it a Name you’ll recognize easily like “Flying Lemons Band 4/25 8PM.”

Into URL, if your “stream key” were xyzzy, you’d type:

rtmps://live-api-s.facebook.com:443/rtmp/xyzzy

Of course, your “stream key” for this broadcast is much longer than xyzzy, so it’ll be something more like:

rtmps://live-api-s.facebook.com:443/rtmp/9797101065652424?s_bl=1&s_ps=1&s_sw=0&s_vt=api-s&a=Abc0dEF123gH4iJK5lmn6OP

Have patience. This is going to be a doozy to type into a tiny screen. Sorry.

Leave Mode as “Audio + Video,” “Target type” as “Default,” and don’t touch any of the other settings.

Click the “Save” button at the bottom of the screen.

  1. Now you should see your new “connection” in a list. Does it have a checkmark to the right of it? If not, tap the space to the right of it to make a checkmark appear.
  2. Are there any other “connections” in the list? Tap to the right of them to make sure they’re un-checked.

You can also see Larix’s official documentation on the subject.

  • [[[TO DO:]]] [Screenshots and iOS instructions here – these are Android instructions]\ Click the “back” arrow up by the word “Settings” to return to the main Settings menu, then click the next back-arrow to return to the “what your camera sees, plus icons” mode.

Flip your camera if you’d like

Just above the decibel meter, center left, opposite the red “record” button at right, should be two arrows pointing at each other in a circle. Tap that to flip your camera.

Lock camera focus if possible

I don’t understand why, but Larix Broadcaster doesn’t let me “focus lock” out of the front-facing camera.

I guess I just have to trust that the artificial intelligence of my phone’s camera processor is smart enough to stay focused on my face, even while I move.

However, if you’re using the rear-facing camera and on an iOS-based apple device, you absolutely can “lock” the focus on a certain depth when using the rearview camera.

Put your phone/tablet on the tripod, music stand, etc. on which you plan to set it while broadcasting.


“Vidéo en direct” = “Live video”

“Créer une publication” = “Create Post”

“Que voulez-vous dire, Katie ?” = “What’s on your mind, Katie?”

“Fil d’actualité” v. “Votre story” = “News Feed” vs. “Your Story”

“Moi uniquement” = “Only me”

“Qui peut voir ça ?” = “Who should see this?”

“A l’instant” = “Just now”


--- ---