Livestreaming meetings or webinars on Facebook

You can stream a Zoom webinar or meeting live on Facebook to your Facebook timeline, a group page, or page that you are an admin for. This allows your participants to join via Zoom or viewers to watch and comment on Facebook Live.

Note: Facebook changed their API as of April 2018 and now prevents some users from livestreaming to groups. If you are unable to livestream your webinar to Facebook, you can configure the Facebook Livestream as a custom service. 

This article covers: 

Prerequisites for livestreaming meetings or webinars on Facebook

Streaming for meetings

Streaming for webinars

How to enable Facebook livestreaming for meetings

Account 

To enable all members of your organization to livestream meetings on Facebook:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit account settings.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management and then Account Settings.
  3. Click the the Meeting tab.
  4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), verify that Allow livestreaming of meetings is enabled.
  5. Select the Facebook check box.
  6. Click Save to save the changes.
  7. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in your account, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Group

To enable all members of a specific group to livestream meetings on Facebook:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit groups.
  2. In the navigation menu, click User Management then Groups.
  3. Click the name of the group you want to edit. 
  4. Click the Meeting tab.
  5. Under In Meeting (Advanced), verify that Allow livestreaming of meetings is enabled.
  6. Select the Facebook check box.
  7. Click Save to save the changes.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at the account level and needs to be changed at that level.
  8. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in this group, click the lock icon and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

User

To enable livestreaming meetings that you host on Facebook:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. Click Settings. 
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), verify that Allow livestreaming of meetings is enabled.
  5. Select the Facebook check box.
  6. Click Save to save the changes.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level, and you will need to contact your Zoom administrator to make changes.

How to enable Facebook livestreaming for webinars

Account

To enable all members of your organization to livestream webinars on Facebook:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit account settings.
  2. Click Account Management and then Account Settings.
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), verify that Allow livestreaming of webinars is enabled.
  5. Select the Facebook check box.
  6. Click Save to save the changes.
  7. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in your account, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Group

To enable all members of a specific group to livestream webinars on Facebook:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit groups.
  2. Click User Management and then select Group Management.
  3. Click the name of the group you want to edit.
  4. Click the Meeting tab.
  5. Under In Meeting (Advanced), verify that Allow livestreaming of webinars is enabled.
  6. Select the Facebook check box.
  7. Click Save to save the changes.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at the account level and needs to be changed at that level.
  8. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in this group, click the lock icon and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

User

To enable livestreaming webinars that you host on Facebook:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. Click Settings. 
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), verify that the Allow livestreaming of webinars is enabled.
  5. Select the Facebook check box.
  6. Click Save to save the changes.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level, and you will need to contact your Zoom administrator to make changes.

How to start a livestream to Facebook

Direct streaming from a meeting or webinar

  1. Start your webinar or meeting.
  2. In the meeting/webinar controls, click More.

  3. Click Live on Facebook.
    Your default browser will open and you will be prompted to sign in to Facebook if you aren't already logged in.
  4. Sign in to Facebook.
    Facebook will provide the following message: "This endpoint is deprecated and will not be accessible once the next Graph API version is released. Please use the Live API instead."
  5. Ignore this message, then choose where on Facebook to livestream.
  6. Click Next.
    Notes:
  7. When Facebook has finished loading the livestream and you are ready to start the broadcast on Facebook, click Go Live.
  8. Wait for the notification from the Zoom client that your Webinar is Live on Facebook, then begin your meeting or webinar.

Streaming stops when you end the webinar or meeting or click the Stop Streaming icon on the Zoom client.

Streaming to Facebook via custom live streaming

  1. Enable Custom Live Streaming for your meeting or webinar.
  2. Access your meeting or webinar. 
  3. In the Live Streaming section, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Configure live stream settings. 
  4. In a separate tab or window, sign in to Facebook
  5. Click Live Video on the page, group, event, or your timeline where you would like to go live.
  6. In the left-side panel, click Schedule Live Video Event.
  7. Enter the name of the event, select the date and time of your stream, add an optional description, and adjust the privacy settings as needed. 
  8. Click Next.
  9. (Optional) Add a cover photo to the event and adjust other streaming settings as needed. 
  10. Click Create Event.
  11. Copy and paste the Post URL from Facebook into the Live streaming page URL on Zoom. 
  12. In the left-side panel, select Upcoming Live Videos and Events. 
  13. Find the event you just created and click Set Up Live Video.
  14. In the Get Started section, select Use Stream Key to view the Stream Key and Server URL. 
  15. Copy and paste the Server URL and Stream Key from Facebook into the Stream URL and Stream Key on Zoom. 
  16. Click Save on the Add Live Stream Service window in Zoom.  
  17. Start your Zoom meeting or webinar when you are ready to begin the event.
  18. Click More in the meeting controls and select Live on Custom Live Streaming Service. 

Tips for live streaming on Facebook

Processing time

There is a processing time of approximately 20 seconds for Facebook Live, so participants watching on Facebook will see the same content approximately 20 seconds after participants watching on Zoom.

Audio echo

If you have the Facebook window open on your computer, you will hear your audio play back to you approximately 20 seconds delayed. If you need to keep the Facebook window open to view and reply to comments, click the speaker icon at the bottom right of the live stream on the Facebook page to mute the video.

Video layout

You can change the meeting or webinar video layout to determine how participants watching on Facebook view your livestream.

When screen sharing, the shared content appears in the large video window, and the speaker's video appears as a thumbnail if their video is on. If the speaker's video is off, only the shared content can be viewed by participants on Facebook.

How to check Facebook permissions

You can stream to your Facebook Timeline or to a Facebook Group or Page, if you have appropriate permissions.

To check your permissions for a Facebook page

You must be an admin or an editor to stream to a Facebook page. If you are a moderator, analyst or advertiser, this page will show up under your Facebook pages, but you will not be able to Live Stream.

  1. Sign in your Facebook account.
  2. Search for and choose the page you would like to stream to.
  3. Along the left-side settings for this page, click Page Roles .
  4. Under Existing Page Roles it will list anyone who is assigned any roles for this page and who has been assigned to each role. Only admins and editors can stream to a page.

To check your permissions for a Facebook group

You must have admin permissions for a group to stream. If you have moderator or member permissions, you will not be able to live stream to this Facebook Group.

  1. Sign in to your Facebook account.
  2. Search for and choose the group you would like to stream to.
  3. Click Members.
  4. Under Admins & Moderators it will list anyone who is assigned each role for this page. Only admins can stream to a page.
  5. Click ... next to your name.

You will also need to add Zoom as an app for your Group. 

  1. Log in to your Facebook account.
  2. Search for and choose the group you would like to stream to.
  3. On the left side panel, click Settings. 
  4. In the Manage Advanced Settings section, click the edit pencil next to Apps. 
  5. Click Add Apps. 
  6. Search for Zoom, click on Zoom, and then click Add.
  7. Follow the on screen prompts to authorize Zoom to have access to this Facebook group.