Can Facebook Live Be Broadcast Privately?

Facebook Live is a brilliant tool that allows you to stream your videos live with little effort. Everyone uses it, from individual users to pages of large corporations. People use it for fun, marketing, and raising awareness.

But can you broadcast Facebook Live privately, to a limited group of people? Some events may not be for the entire Facebook to see, but you still may want the option of streaming it to a selected group of people.

Can You Do Facebook Live in private?

The short answer here is: yes. Not only can you choose to broadcast your live Facebook session to your Facebook friends only, but you can even exclude some of these friends from your broadcast. You can also go live on Facebook with the groups in which you’re a member or admin.

So yes, broadcasting Facebook Live to a select group of people is an option, and a very useful one, at that. Instead of broadcasting something hobby-related to all of your friends, you can do so in a hobby group. This way, you’ll get much more traction and more engagements. If you don’t care about the numbers, you can focus on the fun aspect of this experience.

How to Do Facebook Live Privately?

There are two main ways to do Facebook Live, in general. Using your Android/iOS device and using your browser. The first one is much more versatile and widely used, while the second one is much more organized. Both work in a similar way. Here’s how to start your live broadcast on Facebook to a select group of people.

Mobile

It’s as simple as opening your Facebook mobile app. In essence, a Facebook regards a Live Session as a post. So, the Live option should be right under “What’s on your mind?” on the Home page. If you can’t see it, tap What’s on your mind? That should show you the list of all the types of posts you can make on Facebook. Live video should be one of them. Tap it.

Your phone’s/tablet’s front camera should turn on. Don’t worry, as you aren’t streaming your front camera feed to the entire world yet. By default, however, Public is selected as your audience. That means that pretty much anyone will be able to see your feed once you go live. So, before tapping Start Live Video, navigate to the upper-left corner of the screen. You’ll see To: Public Post. Tap here, and a menu will open. From here, you’ll be able to select who you’re streaming to.

Browser

Broadcasting using your browser is similar. Go to your preferred browser and go to Facebook.com. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see “What’s on your mind, [your name]?” at the top of the page.

You’ll also see several options beneath this, such as Photo/Video, Tag Friends, and so on. Click the three-dots icon to the left. A list of other options should appear. To start setting up your broadcast, click Live Video. If you’re using a laptop, a screen with a camera, or a webcam, you’ll be able to see yourself. Again, don’t worry, the broadcast doesn’t start until you decide to start it.

In the left part of the screen, you’ll see Share to Your Timeline and Public. Here, you’ll be able to select your broadcast privacy options.

Selecting Your Audience

Whether you’re using a mobile device/tablet or a computer, you can select your audience. However, the setup methods differ a bit in certain respects.

You can choose whether you’ll broadcast to the public, to all your friends, to some friends, or only to yourself. You can also choose to broadcast to the groups that you’re a member or admin of, or pages that you’re running.

Broadcasting to Friends

When it comes to selecting which friends can see your Facebook Live broadcast, things are pretty much the same across the board. On your phone, once you’ve chosen To: Public Post, you are given a choice to stream to Public, your entire Friends list, all friends except the ones you select, to specific friends, or only to yourself. Select Public on the left part of the Facebook live screen to reach this list.

Broadcasting to a Group

However, this is where things diverge a bit, depending on the platform that you’re using. If you want to live stream to a group that you’re a member or an admin of on your phone, you’ll use the same To: Public Post option, mentioned above. To do this in the browser, select Share to Your Timeline and then click Share in a Group. In the next screen, use the dropdown menu under Share in a Group to choose the group.

Broadcasting to Your Page

Now, when it comes to broadcasting to a page that you manage, things depend on the platform you’re using. Within a browser, select Share to a Page you Manage after clicking Share to Your Timeline. Then, select one of the pages that you manage.

However, there is no page broadcasting option on Facebook for Mobile because you can’t manage your pages via the Facebook app. Instead, you’re going to have to use the Facebook Page app. Fortunately, the Facebook Live option on Facebook Page works in an almost identical manner as with the regular Facebook app.

Broadcasting to a Select Group of People

Using Facebook Live is simple across the board. You might encounter minor inconveniences on your phone, due to the lack of option of broadcasting to your pages. If you’ve ever used Facebook Page or Facebook for Mobile, this shouldn’t be an issue, though. So, yes, you can broadcast Facebook Live both privately and to a select group of people.

Have you managed to broadcast Facebook Live to a group of people that you wanted to? Which type of Facebook Live broadcast do you use and prefer? Join in on the discussion in the comment section below and don’t refrain from asking any questions or adding a few tips.