TikTok: what you need to know to make live videos

TikTok continues to evolve and is taking more and more of the pie that until recently seemed to belong solely to Instagram. The 2020 quarantine was a real boom for this social network, and since then, they have not stopped gaining more and more users. If you have recently arrived on this social network, it is normal for you to have a series of doubts. One of the most recurring is wondering if it is possible to do direct on TikTok as on Instagram. And the answer is yes, but a series of conditions must be met to be able to make them, so, from the outset, they are not available to everyone. If you are interested in the subject, in the following lines we will explain all the requirements and how to record a "live video".

What are TikTok Lives?

TikTok has quickly become popular with its short one-minute videos and its ease of creating viral content. One of its star features is direct, which allows a user to connect with its creators, and react in real time thanks to the reactions that occur in the chat.

In essence, TikTok live streams are not very different from those we already know from Instagram. Both of these are options for users to be able to interact with followers in a simple way , in a simpler way than what we would do with Twitch or YouTube. However, let us tell you that to access this feature, it is mandatory to meet a series of requirements. then yeah

Requirements to record in livestream

If you have decided to expand your social horizons with TikTok, now you will want to take advantage of it 100% and know all its qualities. One that not everyone knows (or rather masters) is that through its app you can also record live videos, similar to what Instagram offers, for example - how strange, right? And it is that as you well know, the social network of posturing par excellence, owned by Facebook, offers users the possibility of making "live" recordings , an option that in fact was being squeezed to the maximum during the quarantine days of the year past, multiplying to infinity the number of users who decided to communicate with their followersWith this format -today, although the number has decreased, a good number of accounts have been maintained that continue to do direct with their followers thanks to the loyalty they achieve with it.

TikTok also allows you to livestream, although in this case and unlike Instagram, a couple of important requirements must be met:

• The first of them is to have at least 1,000 followers . If this is not the case, you can forget about it since you will not even see the active option on your interface -although it is true that some users have managed to enable the function in an exceptional way after uploading a "tiktok" that has managed to go very viral.
• The other, less well-known condition is that you must be over 16 years of age . What you read. Although the minimum age to use TikTok is 13 years old, your profile must reflect that you are at least 16 to be able to use the live recording as well —and 18 to be able to receive Virtual Gifts with monetary value—, as reflected in the legal notices of the social network.

Do you meet these two conditions? You are then more than ready to record and show yourself to the world. And it is that making live videos has advantages that can help you continue feeding your community, since they are generally fresher and more spontaneous content , something that followers always appreciate. They build loyalty and bring you closer to your followers, making your community stronger.

How to do a live on TikTok

Recording a live video with TikTok is not a mystery, but, as always, we are going to explain how it is done to try to simplify the process through the steps to follow so that there is no loss. This is what you should do in the social network app:

1. Open the TikTok app and go to the + symbol (the one you use to upload content).
2. Below the red record button you will see the usual options (60s, 15s and MV) and right next to it LIVE.
3. Swipe left to select this last option.
4. You can give your live a name or title, although it is optional (if you do, it will help you capture the attention of more people).
5. Now you just have to touch the new red button that appears from " Broadcast live " and a countdown will appear on the screen.
6. Once the countdown is over, the transmission of what you are recording live will start.

When starting a live, a text always appears warning you that you must comply with the Community Rules and that behavior considered inappropriate can end with the blocking of your account. Take this into account and be respectful and responsible with the rules of the application and with the public itself that is watching you.

Stream TikTok on a PC

Although we will dedicate a particular article to this topic, you should know that if you want to do your broadcasts on this social network in the most professional way possible, you will be able to do them from your PC, although at the moment, there is no native function to do so . —although it has been announced and should arrive in the coming months.

The process is somewhat longer and tedious than what we have just told you about but, as an introduction, you should know that you will need the following elements:

obs studio

It is a totally free app that allows us to record video and broadcast live through the computer itself on many platforms. You can download it from its official website for both Windows and macOS —even for Linux—. It is an advanced program that not only allows streaming, but can also be configured to place multiple cameras, make transitions, effects and so on.

Parallel to this, TikTok is developing its own tool to create live broadcasts based on OBS Studio, as you can read in one of the headings that we leave a little later in this article.

Video camera or webcam

A webcam or, if you want to take it to the extreme, a capture card to be able to use a professional camera. Here, it will depend on your objectives to use basic equipment or something more advanced. TikTok is still in an early phase, and the goal of this social network is instantaneity. Therefore, it is not essential to use a professional team as you would use on other competing platforms. However, as the popularity of this social network increases, it is common for people to improve their equipment and all those users who use more basic tools are left behind.

Microphone

Although it is not entirely necessary to invest in a microphone to do live shows, it is something that is recommended. The microphone of your mobile will not be heard clearly when you perform live, so it is interesting to invest in a good device so that our audience can enjoy superior hearing quality.

The microphone you use will depend fundamentally on how you do your live shows. If you do them from the phone , you will have to buy a compatible model for smartphones. They are not usually too expensive —in the previous video you have a few proposals.

Do you prefer to use the computer and OBS Studio ? In that case, there are other very interesting alternatives . In this case, our recommendation is that you use a cardioid microphone. In the video that we leave you below you have three quite interesting proposals that adapt to three different types of budgets.

Control who accesses your direct

When you do direct any user of the platform can join it. That's great, because you're not limited to a small group and you can reach a larger audience. The problem is that not all users enter it with the intention of seeing what you have to share, but rather they do it to annoy, to insult.

This experience of seeing how someone enters to leave uncomfortable comments is one of the worst that can be experienced as an online content creator. Luckily, TikTok offers different tools to manage this type of behavior.

The latest novelty will allow users to be silenced during a live broadcast . To be able to use it, it is only necessary to be moderated from the direct. Thus, when it is detected that a user is causing a toxic environment, they can be silenced. Also, when you do, all comments posted so far will be deleted.

In this way, TikTok live streams will be much more attractive to the majority. Of course, the idea is not to use this option to censor, only to prevent insults or lack of respect from going unpunished.

This is also added to the existing options that allow you to add different moderators from the person who does the live itself, also an option to allow questions and answers with better management of them. So, if you're thinking of going live, TikTok is still a good option compared to other platforms like Twitch.

What do we know about TikTok Live Studio?

The idea that TikTok has in mind is to launch its own application to stream from the computer . The app already exists in a very preliminary phase and is called TikTok Live Studio . It was launched at the end of 2021 and is present in certain countries and only for specific users.

TikTok Live Studio is a fork of OBS Studio, that is, it is a development based on the application that we have explained in the previous section. Today, the application is quite green. It allows recording both vertically and horizontally and has several streaming modes predefined, among which the game mode and the program mode stand out, which allows us to capture the image of our terminal. On the other hand, the app allows you to choose the mobile camera or the webcam on your computer. You can also place some text, but nothing as complex as what you can do today with OBS. That is, you cannot create custom templates.

You also cannot receive alerts that are recorded in the stream or select multiple sources to include in the video. However, it is a piece of software that is in a very early phase and has not yet been released to the general public . We have no doubt that when it comes out officially, it will be a great program to stream on TikTok from any computer.

What is the difference between OBS Studio and TikTok Live Studio?

OBS Studio is an open source app that is present on multiple platforms and has become the streaming standard. What TikTok wants to do with Live Studio is to do its own customization . As you may have noticed, part of the charm of TikTok is that anyone can pick up a mobile phone and record themselves telling something interesting or doing some kind of craft or special skill. It is not necessary to have too much knowledge of video editing . And this is where TikTok Live Studio comes in.

If we compare with Twitch, which today is the leading platform when it comes to broadcasting, it is obvious that broadcasting on said platform requires a lot of knowledge and a large investment. Spotlights, lights, capturers, cameras and microphones that not everyone has at home. TikTok does not want to become either Twitch or YouTube. For that reason, they want to transform their own app to make it easy to use. The goal is that the same people who do live broadcasts with their mobile phones can quickly learn to do it with a computer in a more professional way, but without forcing their users to become professional. For the moment, the app will take time to reach its final phase, but we are sure that they are working on every detail so that when it reaches our hands, it will be a perfect tool within its ecosystem.

What we are not so clear about is that TikTok's goal will be met. Since the rise of YouTube, we have seen how every time the content that is uploaded to the network has a better technical finish. Today, it is much more difficult to create a video than in 2012, since it requires editing and a technical quality that was not necessary 10 years ago. With TikTok streams, a bit of the same thing may happen. Currently, the Chinese social network wants its users not to invest money in creating content. However, when competition between the creators themselves increases, the technical quality of the content will inevitably rise.

Can you make money with direct?

The answer is yes, although as you can imagine it is not an easy or immediate task. Among other things, because you must have a good community of followers behind you, capable of generating a significant amount of money and, of course, give way to the platform's gift program. Even so, there are tiktokers who make a profit with their livestreams, of course, something they get through "diamonds" that are later exchanged for money.