How to create a free live blog using Twitter

David Court January 28, 2015

If you want to create a good looking live blog that’s easy to set up, use, and is completely free, then Twitter is a great option.

How to create a free live blog using Twitter

See also: How to buy bitcoins.

There are plenty of live-blogging providers out there, namely CoverItLive and Scribblelive. However, there’s a catch with these services. Scribblelive costs $499 a month for the basic option, and CoverItLive – now owned by Scribblelive – is only free for your blogs first 2,000 engaged minutes. Not ideal services for a covering a one-off event.

By utilising Twitter’s widgets, you can create a similar experience that won’t cost you a penny. What’s even better is that it has a lot of the same functionality as the paid-for services, such as the ability to embed photos, certain videos, and, er, Tweets. All you need for this method to work is a Twitter account.

How to create a free live blog: step one

Login to your Twitter account and click on your profile image – located in the top right of the screen – and click on the Lists option.

How to create a free live blog: step two

Now that you’re on the Lists page, you need to press the Create new list button – located on the right-hand side of the screen. Give your List a name, description and make sure the Privacy option is set to Public.

How to create a free live blog: step one

How to create a free live blog: step three

Next you need to add Twitter handles to your list. To do this, simply go to a user’s Twitter page, click on the settings cog and then select Add or remove from lists…

How to create a free live blog: step four

Now you’ve created your List, you need to create a widget to embed the List content on your website. Click on your profile image again, go to settings, and then select Widgets – located on the left-hand side of the page.

How to create a free live blog: step four

Click on the Create new button and then select the List tab. From here you need to select the correct list from the drop down box and the tailor the rest of the Configurations settings to your requirements. When you’re done hit Create widget and you’ll be shown your HTML code, which you can embed straight to your webpage.