How to keep your Facebook Live videos private

 

You may have heard the recent story of a father live-streaming his son’s birth on Facebook Live. Well, as touching as the moment was, it turns out it wasn’t mean to be seen by everyone on Facebook.

The father, Kali Kanongata’a, told People Magazine he thought he was only streaming the birth to his family members — but because of a mishap with his privacy settings, he streamed the birth to the entire world.

The story has a happy ending, though, as his partner Sara Dome is cool with the video being online. The couple doesn’t even plan on taking it down. But not everyone would be comfortable with such private moments being broadcast to Facebook’s more than 1.6 billion users.

So how can you ensure your Live videos are private? Follow these steps:

• Open the Facebook app on your Android or iPhone, and above your name you should see an area showing who will be able to see your posts.

 

Tap that, and a menu will pop up and provide you with a list showing Public, Friends, Only Me or More. If you want everybody on earth to see your posts, tap Public. To ensure only your friends see them, choose Friends. And if you only want your Live Video available for yourself, tap Only Me.

 

You can further customize who you want to share your Live videos with by tapping More.

Now go forth, and stream safely.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.