Instagram New “Live Moderator” Feature. How to Use

It’s finally here— Instagram recently started rolling out its “Live Moderator” feature!

This is the latest tech news from the social media company, but it’s yet to be seen if it will also apply to the company’s Facebook app as well.

Creators and brands who use Instagram live can now make their workflow tons easier by appointing a moderator to handle things during their livestream.

The person who becomes your Moderator can do a variety of things, including:

Report comments
Turn off comments for specific viewers
Remove viewers from the Instagram Live altogether

This is a huge game changer for your Instagram account; previously, the host of the Live had to take care of this all themselves! Hosting and moderating? Not an easy task.

Not only that, Instagram launching Live Moderator means that the host can focus on their streaming efforts and provide the best quality content to their viewers. This is really important if you want to attract more clients using Instagram Live and facilitate valuable conversation.

Instagram really cares a lot about creators, consistently releasing new features that help them to provide a better experience and create more captivating content. This is clear from their launch of the Creators lab.

The Creators lab provides a community to creators so that they can “collaborate to create innovative campaigns.” Sweet.

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has recently expressed how much Instagram values the creator community in what they do in the way of “pushing culture forward, establishing trends, and setting new norms.”

It’s clear from the importance that Instagram places on creators just how serious they are about making the platform a top choice for their content, as well as keeping them safe. After all, how many trolls could you find in an Instagram Live?

Now, Moderators can take on those trolls full force and protect the integrity of live videos in real time. It’s a huge weight off of the shoulders of the host, no doubt.

Are you looking to become an Instagram Live Moderator? Or are you looking to train one? We’ve got the step-by-step on how to use it coming right up!

How to Use Instagram Live Moderator Features

If you’re familiar with Instagram Live, you won’t have much trouble at all using a Moderator to help you control tasks that only the user could previously handle.

Even if you don’t have much experience, no problem! It’s very simple and we’re sure you can pick it up in just a few steps, which we’ll list below.

Step 1: Go Live on Instagram

The first thing you need to do is start your Instagram Live broadcast. That means that before you want to test out the Moderator feature, be prepared to start your stream and for your audience to see you!

You may want to do this with an Instagram live that isn’t as long, just to get an initial test in, and then you can use the feature at length in future Instagram Live streams.

Step 2: Assign Your Instagram Live Moderator

Once your Instagram Live stream is active, check out the comment box and tap the three dots icon. That is where you can assign Moderators.

You’ll then be able to select your Moderator. You can do it manually in the search bar, or select from a pre-populated list of suggested accounts.

Note: You can only choose a Moderator who is already viewing your Live video, so be sure that they join the stream.

Currently, you can only have one Moderator, but this may change in the future depending on the demand and the need for them.

Once you’ve selected the profile, the moderator you’ve chosen will receive a pop-up notification alerting them. They don’t have to accept anything; they simply press OK and the power will then be in their hands.

They can then report, remove, or restrict viewers as they see fit. They can also report comments in the comment bar if they are inappropriate.

And that’s it! It takes just a quick second to set someone as your Moderator, so you don’t have to spend too much time messing around with it and can get right down to business.

Let the live host manage the content, and the Moderator can manage the back end.

Why You Should Use an Instagram Live Moderator

No matter if you only have a few Instagram Live viewers or are broadcasting to tons of people, a Moderator can bring a lot of benefits to your live video broadcast.

Here are a few reasons why you should use one:

Focus on your followers: you can shift your focus away from monitoring who is doing right or wrong and simply focus on truly communicating with people. If you see something pop up that doesn’t jive with you, you don’t have to do anything— you can keep interacting with those who are contributing to the conversation and let your moderator deal with those who are bringing it down. They can learn how to mute someone on Instagram or remove viewers from a particular account with troublesome behavior, which ensures a smooth live video.
Have a right-hand man (or woman): your moderator is on your team, so you don’t have to feel so alone when you are doing your Instagram Live broadcast. You can select a moderator that will be able to understand you, what you might flag as inappropriate or undesired, help you to pin comments and figure out what to respond to, and more. Before, it was more difficult for this to happen simply because they didn’t have any real control. Now, they can guide you and perform actions on your behalf.
Get feedback from an insider: while you can do this with someone who isn’t your moderator, it’s even better if you have someone you work with on a consistent basis to help you to understand what went right and what could have been better. For example, if you had a big hiccup and a lot of negative comments or trolls at one moment, why did that happen? Your Instagram Live Stream Moderator will ideally know your audience just as well as you do, thus allowing you both to reflect on the success of the Live and set goals for next time. Ways to Encourage People for Social Media Engagement: Engaging with your audience during an Instagram Live session can significantly boost interaction. Encourage viewers to ask questions, participate in polls, and share their thoughts to create a dynamic environment.

Wrap-up: The New Instagram Live Moderator Feature

Live broadcasts have been made more seamless than ever with the new feature of a moderator. It’s great to see that a social network considers live stream moderation important, as it can enable users to enjoy the stream more and make it easier for the live host to focus on hosting.

You can use IG Live to connect with your followers on a personal basis, give insight into your daily life or routine, showcase products and behind-the-scenes, and so much more, whether you're growing organically or exploring options like buy Instagram followers.

It’s clear that Instagram is much more than a photo sharing platform, and we hear that Instagram’s introducing plenty more updates in the near future, so keep your eye on our blog!

What do you think of Instagram’s new “Live Moderator” feature? Will more social media platforms follow suit? Will this lead to more gaming focused features on Instagram? Let us know in the comments!