Live Video Streams
We are living in modern times and almost everything is instantaneous. As you browse on your social media of your choice, be it Facebook or Instagram as the most popular sites, there is always someone going LIVE. What does this mean? Well, Live video streaming or live casting is the term used to describe the process of a broadcasting real-time live video feed to an audience accessing the video stream over the internet. People can use a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone or digital screen at home.
Benefits of Live Videos
The videos supply some of the highest engagement on social media. People are able to connect and chat with the person live streaming instantly. The fact that the content is live, makes it raw and non-rehearsed that people are easy to relate and connect with the person. If it is a business launching a product, for instance, the audience is able to connect with the brand and this builds trust from the personal connection. Your business or brand might gain retention or new business.
It also serves the same purpose as face-to-face conversations or boardroom presentations. It’s not the same as a webinar or video conferencing technology as it is instantaneous and not scripted. When a business is using live videos, this actually gets to show how multi-tasking the person who is doing the live video is. As the live video is on, people get to join the live video and if your business has more followers, that person has to acknowledge at least most of the people joining. Some just join without greeting whilst others will join and greet at the same time. The live video presenter has to strive to get the message across whilst acknowledging the people joining the live video chat.
Celebrities and socialites have a public life and everyone almost knows about it as it’s on their social media platforms. However, some people are interested in the celebrities’ private life. This is where the live video streaming comes to play since those people get to get a closer look at their favorite celebrities and certain socialites. They feel connected and in the know of their lifestyle routines, beauty tips, cooking tips, and their vacation trips. It creates visibility, immediate communication, memorably and they get to engage with their role models or visual mentors.
Disadvantages of Live Videos
Once the live video is over, the instant communication is over. The viewers can still view the video, however, they cannot engage with the live video streamer anymore.
Also, Live streaming requires a lot of bandits. Therefore if you don’t have a good internet connection, you may have to decide between video quality and playback. I for one do not like joining a live video that keeps stopping or buffering.
Now let’s talk Whatsapp Video/Audio Calling
Whatsapp is evolving with every update it gets. First, it was the basic emojis and then it was about the updated emojis. Then we could send multimedia to each other e.g. photos, videos, audios (songs), etc., using Whatsapp. As you think you are up to date with the app, then there was a status update where you could write about you, more like a personalized message or motto or motivation. It all depends on the user. Then came status updates where you can add photos or videos and people can reply to the status you have placed and you can even see who has viewed your status.
Whatsapp Video/Audio call is one of the best updates I personally appreciate from Whatsapp. It is cost effective especially when you have family members that live abroad. Calling them using one’s airtime can be financially straining, whereby, most of the coffee shops, shopping malls, and restaurants have free wifi and a person can use the free wifi access to call the loved ones from Whatsapp Video/Audio call. In this way, you save on Data and on airtime if you had one. This is a great technology tool as families can connect with each when they are not living within reachable parameters. I mean, my children stay in touch with their grandmother through Whatsapp video calling and when she comes to visit us, they do not treat her as a stranger as they are used to seeing her face and talking to her. This strengthens the bond connection between families and makes it instantaneous and real-time.
The only bummer for this Whatsapp Video/Audio calling is when the internet connection is low. It will keep reconnecting all the time. If the other person on the other line, is not aware of the buffering, they might continue to talk to the other person, and only realize after a while that the connection was weak or not there.