Pros and Cons of BeLive.TV and Blue Jeans Network
By Cheval John
It is safe to say that live video is the way most businesses and sports organizations will use to interact with future customers.
According to a report by Cision, 80% of all internet activity will have a video component to it by 2020.
That means that if you are not using video for your business, you will be left in the dust by your competition.
And live streaming is leading the way with live video.
Platforms like Meerkat and Periscope (both owned by Twitter) and Blab has brought the live streaming revolution to our daily lives.
When Facebook, the world largest social media platform with over 1 billion users, entered the live streaming game last year with Facebook Live, it created challenges for these platforms.
As an indirect result, Twitter shut down Meerkat and is in the process of integrating Periscope to their social media platform.
The owners of Blab shut down their platform abruptly in the summer time though they had a substantial user base.
It is apparent that Facebook Live is dominating live stream and is looking to continue it innovation to keep their user base on their platform.
As a result, live streaming platforms are being very creative in complimenting Facebook Live.
The platforms which are integrating their software with Facebook Live are Huzza.io, BeLive.TV and Blue Jeans Network
Huzza.io was founded in April 2015 as a way for musicians to get their music out to a niche audience.
Overtime, they expanded their services for live streamers and podcasters.
They were able to integrate their platform to Facebook Live which was a great option for people who wanted to use Facebook Live from their computers.
In February of this year, they sold their company to KickStarter.com and the platform will be shut down on March 1st.
I will add a note that the people from Huzza.io was much more professional in letting their users know that they will not be around anymore because it will give their users time to upload all of their live video recordings to YouTube.
The team from Huzza.io also allowed us to look for alternative live streaming platforms to continue creating our live video broadcasts.
Now, I will focus more on the pros and cons of BeLive.TV and Blue Jeans Network as I have tried both of the live streaming platforms.
Pros of BeLive.TV
The platform is free to use
Your live stream shows goes straight to your facebook page
You can record your show at a certain time
You can do a one on one interview with a guest if you have an interview type of show
The comments from Facebook will appear on their platform
Cons of BeLive.TV:
The platform does not have a way to download a stand alone video
Your live stream will only be for facebook live
If you want to put your video on other platforms like YouTube, it will be impossible due to the fact that Facebook and YouTube are competitors
They are currently in beta
Update: BeLive.Tv is now giving a 14-day free trial of their platform. Afterwards, you will have to pay a yearly subscription of:
$144 for Lite
$240 for Standard
Pros of Blue Jeans Network:
You can post your live show on different social media platforms in addition to Facebook Live
You can record at a certain time
Once the recording is over, you can still continue your Facebook Live stream if you want to continue the conversation with your audience
You can upload the stand alone video of your live stream to YouTube
You can also convert your livestream shows into a podcast
Cons of Blue Jeans Network:
The platform is not free to use
Depending on the price selections, you will be allowed to have from 25 to about 500 people in one room for your shows
The comments from Facebook will not appear on their platform
Update: The leadership team from Blue Jeans Network recently dropped the starting price to $12.49 a month which includes allow anyone to simulcast to Facebook Live. Now the meeting room can hold up to 50 people for the standard “me” option.
Live streaming is here for a very long time and Facebook will continue to be dominant in that space.
If you are only focusing on growing your Facebook Page and don’t have the budget to invest in a live streaming platform, BeLive.TV is the choice for you.
However, if you are looking to diversify your social media presence with live video, then Blue Jeans Network will fit your business.
For me, Blue Jeans Network is the platform of choice because of the features that it has to simulcast on Facebook Live and turn them into podcasts.
In a future post, I will share with you on how you can convert your live streaming shows to a podcast format.
Did I miss any live streaming platforms that integrates with Facebook Live? What are your thoughts about live streaming?
You can leave your comments below.
The Rewards of Hosting A Super Bowl
By Cheval John
I am in “recovery mode” after having the opportunity to work and cover Super Bowl 51 that took place in Houston.
This past super bowl was the best championship matchup ever due to it going into overtime for the first time ever.
It was also the first time that a team had an epic meltdown on the biggest stage ever.
The Atlanta Falcons, who came into the Super Bowl as having the No.1 ranked offense, found a way to lose to the New England Patriots 34-28 in overtime.
The Falcons had a reputation of collapsing in the playoffs over the years.
Many thought that they were going to reverse the above and finally win their first Super Bowl.
The Patriots found a way to overcome a 25 point defecit with their determination plus heart and won their fifth Super Bowl.
Many major media outlets documented the Falcons’ epic collapse and also Lady Gaga’s halftime show
These same journalists from the major media outlets travel annually to cover the Super Bowl, which is the biggest event in the USA.
If a journalist is not a beat writer or a sports reporter for that particular NFL team, then they will not be able to travel to cover the Super Bowl due to budgets constraints or if their team did not make the championship.
Many television, radio and newspaper journalists had the opportunity to cover the festivities surrounding Super Bowl 51 here in Houston.
We saw reports about different festivities like Super Bowl Live, which took place at Discovery Green, that allowed the fans to see live concerts and also see the sports television personalities from Fox Sports, the NFL network ESPN and many others broadcast their shows live.
We also saw the feedback from the visitors on whether the city of Houston did an excellent job of hosting them during the Super Bowl.
Local residents of Houston had the opportunity to work as volunteers for the Houston Super Bowl Committee.
Some of us who work as social media professionals volunteered our services in working at the social media command center at the headquarters of the Houston Super Bowl Committee.
I had the opportunity to work as a social media volunteer for the Houston Super Bowl Committee and cover the activities using the different social media channels to give my audience a behind the scenes view of Super Bowl 51.
Take a look at this light show at Discovery Green
And the revolving Super Bowl rings that was displayed at the NFL Experience (which you had to pay to attend) inside the George R. Brown Convention Center
This photo below is the Lombardi Trophy which attendees had the opportunity to take a picture with
You will see how downtown got extremely busy when the visitors outside of the Houston area arrived on the weekend of the Super Bowl
I can tell you that it was truly a dream to be here for the Super Bowl because of seeing the lively atsmophere when watching all of the media coverage of the championship event.
I got to see first hand the teamwork from the different tourism organizations like Houston First and The Greater Houston Partnership who helped promote the event.
I also saw the Houston Astros organization lend their full support to the Super Bowl with the use of Minute Maid Park, where the opening night (media day) took place.
Now that Super Bowl 51 is over, the Houston Super Bowl host committee did the honorary transfer of the guard to the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee to get their city prepared to host Super Bowl 52.
My advice to the Minnesota Super Bowl Committee is to think outside of the box and enlist social media professionals in addition to business leaders to help promote Super Bowl 52.
You will do an excellent job because you have the right leaders and team members that are qualified to host the Super Bowl.
For anyone who works in the different business sectors and industries in the Minneapolis area, you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to be apart of the Super Bowl.
Though you will not get paid, I can guarantee you that you will see the long term benefits of volunteering your time for the Super Bowl.
When the commissioner of the NFL tells the crowd and the national media that your host city did an excellent work in hosting the fans and visitors, you will have a sense of pride in being a part of a Super Bowl.
To close out this blog post, here is the video of the Super Bowl train leaving downtown which was the home of the Houston Super Bowl Committee
And the fireworks to end the Super Bowl Live Festivities
The Art of Converting Live Stream Shows To A Podcast
By Cheval John
You might be thinking about how you can convert your live stream shows to a podcast format.
Before I get into the step-by-step guide, here are some observations as to converting a show to a podcast.
Remember when I mentioned about blab in my last post?
Blab had the technology to save your live streams in both audio and video format if the show was recorded.
They made it easy for anyone to become a podcaster.
Granted, you might have to edit some of the shows due to their instability because most of the time, some type of technological glitch happened that would interrupt your show.
Once Blab officially went away, platforms like BeLive.tv, Crowdcast and Blue Jeans Network filled the vacuum that was left.
It seemed like there was not a way to convert your live stream shows from the above platforms to a podcast.
And you might be wondering why should I convert my show into a podcast if live video is the wave of the future?
Because podcasts are still important due to the “lack of competition.”
Though YouTube is the second largest website in the world according to Alexa, it is very difficult to stand out from the competition due to the fact that they is a channel for every single topic from how to build an online business to how to find the correct customers for your business.
Podcasts have a much smaller niche because not many people are hosting a podcast.
According to Edison Research, 57 million Americans listens to a podcast each month.
And the competition is much easier due to the fact that the majority of podcasts are not well done.
If you are still not convinced about converting your live stream shows to a podcast, here are some examples of major media outlets who are converting their television programming into a podcast:
FIRST TAKE
First Take is a morning sports debate show that airs weekday mornings on ESPN.
Once they are finished with their live show, the person in charge of the engineering for the network converts it into a podcast for the people who could not watch the show on television.
Mike and Mike
Mike and Mike is a weekly morning show that is aired on ESPN 2 and ESPN Radio.
The engineers then convert segments of the show to a podcast format so that the fans can listen at their own time.
Update: The show ended their 18 year run in November
Around The Horn
Around The Horn airs weekday afternoons on ESPN. They too have their show as a podcast.
Now that you have seen some examples of major media converting their shows to a podcast, you might be thinking that they have the money and the people to convert their shows to a podcast.
The good news is that you don’t need a large budget to repurpose your live stream shows to a podcast.
So you might be wondering, “How can I convert my live stream shows to a podcast if the live streaming platforms only have the technology to save your shows as a video format?”
I will show you how people like Vicky Lashenko, who host her Mompreneur Show on Facebook Live every Monday at 1 p.m. eastern, convert their shows into a podcast.
I use the YouTube To MP3 Converter to turn this episode of What’s The Word? featuring Jessica Rhodes of Interview Connections, which was recorded on Blue Jeans Network and simulcast on Facebook Live, to a podcast
Update: That platform is no longer in service and I discovered the mp3converter.net for converting youtube videos to podcast format
First, I download the recording from Blue Jeans Network to my folder
Then, I upload the video to my YouTube channel
Once the video is done processing, I hit publish to make the video public and then copy it to the youtube to mp3 converter
You want to make sure that you don’t have the video set to private because the conversion to mp3 will not happen.
Once the conversion is complete, you can then upload your mp3 version of the show to your podcast feed, which for me is blogtalkradio.
After that, your podcast is ready to air at the scheduled time.
On a side note, you can change the settings back to private to make edits to turn your video to a snippet that will lead your audience to listen to the entire episode of your show and at the same time, build your YouTube Channel.
Podcast Version of What’s The Word?
In conclusion, you have seen how to convert your live stream show to a podcast.
If you still believe that your content is only suited for one platform like live video, then you are missing an opportunity to diversify your knowledge on different media platforms while building your business.
You can leave your comments below if you agree or disagree with the article above.
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