Many of us, Instagram users, have had the feeling that tapping on that heart button or leaving a text comment is not enough for expressing ourselves properly while watching a Live video by someone we love and follow on the social media app. Luckily for those of us who had this feeling before Live streaming on Instagram is no longer an only one-way street.
Earlier this November, Instagram rolled out its most recent addition which enables users to join live streams just by requesting to do so.
The idea of someone joining live stream itself is not really new, but it was only the decision of the broadcaster to add people to the live stream. The owner of the live stream is still in charge of who gets to join in on his stream, what Instagram’s update changed is the followers and viewers ability to request joining the live stream while watching it which has expanded the possibility of great collaborations.
The utility of the feature as a popular tech publication pointed out: this feature makes it possible for a celebrity to take calls from his or her fans while broadcasting in addition to the ability of screening pending requests and select one who made an interesting comment in the chatting section or just choose one of them randomly to join them live.
To request joining a live video, all the viewer needs to do is to tap the newly added request button in the same section where users share their comments to the live stream, all requests will pop up in front of the broadcaster, or in this case host, right away, and it is up to the host to accept or deny these requests of viewers to join his or her broadcast.
Of course, there is always the risk of having a random guest on the broadcast who would say something embarrassing or inappropriate, or even a carefully selected guest who would wait for the opportune moment when they are on the broadcast to do that, but that does not represent any more risk than allowing random followers to comment on posts, one can even say that this is a default risk that comes with the package when you decide to go public with any content online.
There is, however, a way to avoid taking that risk. If Instagram added a feature that allows a few seconds delay, it would give the host a chance to avoid situations like this.
