“I go live at 5 pm today, please be ready with your questions and I hope we have a fun session!”, I’m sure everyone has heard this from their favourite blogger and would have noticed how they have been live streaming sessions often after the Instagram and Facebook update. ‘Going live’ enables instant contact with your favourite blogger/brand/influencer given that you follow them and can join them live using the tip of your finger no matter where you are and what you’re doing.
Ashwini Dixit, a city based fashion and lifestyle blogger weighs the pros and cons of live streaming and says, “Blogs have taken a back seat and going live has a better impact in terms of reach, information about what you’re up to and what the brand is offering.” Having received messages about her profile being fake, Ashwini talks about how live streaming helps people realise and understand that the person is real and gives a better understanding of the bloggers’ plans of answering questions, and having a conversation that is live.
Megha Sidharth is an upcoming blogger on Instagram and feels like live streaming is easier with technology because blog posts take a lot more time and effort because it consists of details. “Blogs have been losing their steam, it’s a human need to gather more information in a short span of time which blogs are not able to keep up with.” Megha adds that the notification sent to the followers helps reach the audience much further, which also makes it hard because there is no scope for mistakes.
Swati Gandhi, a fashion, lifestyle and travel influencer, says that going live is as exciting, fun and engaging as watching a cricket match live even though live streams have a shorter attention and retention span. “Live streaming is here to stay for it gives bloggers the edge and the ability to improve engagement in real time,” she concludes, adding that it would be great if live streaming came with privacy settings, which would help filter out a lot of unnecessary problems.
“The art of writing and the habit of reading are both disappearing” says Aaditi Shenoy, a city-based fashion, lifestyle, beauty and wellness blogger who claims that these updates are a blessing in disguise. She says that it enables brands and bloggers to interact better — you can send out messages and thoughts, and the feature of live streaming is being pushed to the front of the stories lineup after having notified your followers, which helps gain more traction. “Elaborately thought out and scripted blog posts seem to have a limited or no reach. Visual content being more engaging, bloggers prefer conveying their messages through a live session or a picture post rather than a written blog post.”
— Aditi Jayakumar
