App for journalists: Switcher Go, for more engaging Facebook Lives

Livestreaming on Facebook is a great way to update your audience on the latest news while building your relationship with them on a more personal level, but it can be difficult to keep audiences engaged without a range of visuals.

With Switcher Go, journalists are able to broadcast pre-recorded material as part of their live stream, enabling them to add images and video to their Facebook Live while they are talking to audiences.

To get started, download the free iOS app on the app store and create an account with your email address. Link your Facebook account to Switcher Go, and you will be ready to create your first stream.

Choose the Facebook Live option from the main menu – note that you can also link the app with YouTube, or simply record your video offline.

Once you've chosen whether you'd like your app to stream to your Facebook timeline, page, group or event, add a title and description to the post to draw in audiences.

Here, you can control the stream quality, ranging from Low to HD – a choice you will want to make depending on the quality of your users' internet connections and where you might reuse the video afterwards.

On the main broadcast screen, you'll notice the app automatically defaults to showing you the view from the back camera. Use the camera icon on-screen to flip it should you wish to film yourself.

Press the plus icon at the bottom of the screen to add up to four videos and images from your camera roll. While doing so, you'll be able to personalise where they will be shown on the screen, as well as any background colours you'd like to add.

The toggle icon at the bottom-left of the screen will allow you to alter the focus, exposure and white balance of your camera, or simply select everything to automatic.

Hold and drag the slider on the left of the screen to adjust the zoom, and let go to set.

Once you're ready to go live, press the red button on the top-left of the screen. You can flick between your inserted images and videos simply by tapping on them, just remember to keep an eye on the audio levels, ensuring that you don't accidentally talk over the sound coming from your videos.

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