Creating a Stream

If you want to create a liveblog, live chat, or social wall, you'll need to create a stream first.  Once a stream has been set up, you'll be able to fill it with content, publish it onto your digital property, and share it with the world. 


In this article, we'll review all of your options when configuring your stream.

Navigation

Dashboard > Any Live Stream > Write > Content Studio

Permission

Administrator  |  Developer  |  Editor

Create a New Stream

There are 2 ways to initiate a new stream:

  1. From your Dashboard, click on a stream icon
  2. Hover over Create tab and select type of stream you would like to create

 

This will take you to the stream's Basic Setup page:

Basic Setup 

Title

Give your stream a Title. This is the only step that is required to create a stream, so if you’re in a hurry, fill in the Title field, and click Finish at the bottom of your screen. (You can always come back later and fill in your stream details from within Content Studio by clicking on Setup > Stream from the drop down Menu at the top of the page.)

Description

In the Description field, enter details about what your stream will be about. Your stream’s description will appear on your microsite (whitelabel), in your email reminder, and in the Live Market if your stream is available for syndication.


Category

Click the Category field, to select or enter a category that best describes your stream. You can add several categories to your stream to easily search for your stream in the All Content page of your account.
 

Time Zone

Change the Time Zone to the time zone your stream will take place in, by selecting a city closest to you in the drop-down menu. If you are unable to locate a city closest to you, select a city in your time zone. Unsure of your time zone? Click here to visit Wikipedia's Time Zone page.

Note: This is a necessary step as it affects the open and close time of your stream. Click here for more information about setting an open and close time for your stream.


Language

Change the Language of your stream by clicking on the drop-down menu and selecting a language other than the English default.



Schedule Time

In the Schedule Time module, set a Stream Start Time for when you stream should start. If your stream starts in the future, use the slider to set your Open Stream time to Now and schedule the Stream Start Time to when your live stream will begin. This will allow you to prepare content, allow your readers to submit questions to your stream prior to your stream’s start time or set up an email reminder notification.


Note: If your Close Stream settings are set to Autoclose, your stream will automatically close after 3 hours of inactivity. Click here for more information about scheduling an open and close time for your stream.


Advanced Features


Commenting

  • Enabling Commenting allows your audience to post a question or comment.
  • Enabling Moderation allows you to approve comments and replies before they are published.
  • Enabling commentators to upload allows visitors to click to upload images, pdfs or videos as a comment.
  • Enabling comment box open by default will expand the comment box on page load instead of expanding after a visitor clicks into it.


See Commenting for more information on adjusting your settings.

 Public Replies

  • Enabling Public Replies allows users to leave comments on specific posts in addition to being able to comment on the stream as a whole. 
  • Enable Moderation to send public replies to the moderation hub.
  • Enable visible reply box open by default to make reply boxes visible on page load instead of requiring visitors to click into a post to comment on it.

Moderation Filters

Adjust your Language Filter settings to filter inappropriate language from your stream. Or filter specific words from your stream by adjusting your custom language filter. Click here to learn more about filtering inappropriate language from your stream.
 

In Stream Ads

Add your JavaScript or HTML ad code to your stream, and choose how many posts should appear between ads in the Frequency numerical field. Click here to learn more about In Stream Ads.

More Options


Likes

Use the slider to turn Likes on or off to allow readers to 'like' posts in your stream. Readers can click on the heart icon beneath posts to add a 'like' to a social post when Likes are enabled.
 

Anonymous Logins Only

Adjust the slider to enable or disable users from logging in anonymously when making a comment or public reply in your stream. With the slider set to On, Anonymous Login will be the only option. With the slider set to OFF, front-end users will be able to choose between Anonymous login and signing in with a social network.

Oldest To Newest On Close

Use the slider to adjust the order posts appear in when a stream has closed. By default, when a stream has closed, posts will appear in chronological order, from oldest to newest.
 

Private Polling / Quiz (Exclusive to Enterprise Edition)

Adjust the Private Polling slider to enable or disable your users from viewing poll results after they have voted.

Notification Sound

  • If ON: A notification sound plays each time a new post is published to a stream
  • If OFF: Sound is muted (notification does not play unless an individual viewer turns on the sound from the front-end of the stream)


Note: a front-end user can manually turn notification sound on or off for an individual stream 

 

Once you have adjusted your stream's Basic Setup preferences, click on Finish to go to Content Studio.


*If you are an Enterprise client, you will be prompted to create a Content Goal for your stream before going to Content Studio.