How to go live on Facebook

Facebook gives you a fresh key for every broadcast unless you turn on one setting, Persistent stream key. Turn it on once and the key stays the same show after show, so you paste it on Destinations once.

Before you start

• Facebook requires your account to be at least 60 days old.
• Facebook requires your Page, or your profile in Professional mode, to have at least 100 followers to go live. A plain personal profile without Professional mode doesn't get Live Producer.
• If you stream to a Page, you must have Facebook access or task access to create content on that Page. Ask the Page owner to add you if you don't.
• Use a computer. Live Producer is a desktop tool.

Get your Server URL and Stream key (once)

1. On a computer, go to facebook.com and click the red Live video button next to "What's on your mind?".
2. Click Set up live video.
3. Choose Streaming software. Stream setup opens on the left.
4. Scroll down to Advanced settings and turn on Persistent stream key first, so the key never changes. Then copy the Stream key and the Server URL. The Server URL is normally rtmps://live-api-s.facebook.com:443/rtmp/.
5. In BackstagePass, open Studio → Destinations and press Connect next to Facebook.
6. Paste the Server URL into the Server URL box and the stream key into the Stream key box, and press Save.

How going live works

What to do each time you go live, in this order.

1. Before you go live · On Facebook

On Facebook. Do this first, so your video has somewhere to land.

1. Click the red Live video button next to "What's on your mind?".
2. Click Set up live video.
3. Choose Streaming software. Nothing to copy: your saved key is already in place. Leave this window open.

2. Go live on BackstagePass · On BackstagePass

1. In the control room, check Facebook shows next to Ready on at the top right. Then press GO LIVE.

3. Press Go Live on Facebook · On Facebook

Back in the Facebook window.

1. Your video appears in the preview, and Go Live at the bottom left lights up. Press it. Your audience can see you now.

4. When you end · Both

1. End on BackstagePass, then press End live video on Facebook.

Or let Facebook start by itself

If you prefer, you can Schedule a live video in Live Producer instead and tick Go live automatically at scheduled start time. Then Facebook starts on its own, as long as BackstagePass is already sending video a few minutes before the scheduled time.

Things to take care of

• One live at a time. A persistent key can only run one broadcast at once. End the previous one before starting a new one.
• Page lives are always public. Only lives from a profile let you choose a smaller audience.
• Replays disappear after 30 days. Since February 2025 Facebook deletes live replays 30 days after the broadcast. Download the video from Facebook within that time if you want to keep it there, or clip it into Reels.
• Group lives depend on the admin. Some groups turn off live video or require approval.
• If the key stops working, go back to Streaming software on Facebook, turn Persistent stream key off and on again to get a new one. Then, in BackstagePass, open Manage next to Facebook on Destinations, press Replace key, paste the new one, and press Save new key.
• On by default. Once your key is saved, Facebook's page on Destinations has an On by default switch. When this is on, Facebook is already ticked every time you create a new live. You can still untick it for any single live.

Every platform, and the one step most people miss: Destinations.