Livestream Premium & Enterprise customers have the option to allow viewers to participate in the Livestream chat without them being required to log in to a Livestream account. They can instead chat as a guest by simply entering their name.
This feature is especially useful for Enterprise customers embedding a white-labeled event.
This feature only works on the chat that's available during a live broadcast. Commenting on posts (e.g. videos on demand) still require being logged into a Livestream account.
Enable Guest Chat
Guest chat is turned off by default. To turn it on, navigate to your event page and open the Edit drawer.
Scroll down to the bottom of the menu and select Advanced.
Under Live Chat, check the box named Enable guest chat.
Be sure to click Update Settings at the bottom to save your settings.
Now when you go live to your event, viewers not logged in to an account will have the option to either join the chat as a Guest or Sign up for an account. Those who do not have a Livestream account should choose Guest.
Viewers Join the Chat as Guests
The viewer can then enter their name, then click Join.
The viewer will see an indicator that they have joined that chat and can start commenting.
Moderating Chat with Guests
As the account owner, you can delete comments and block participants as needed. Hover your mouse over a message and click the options icon (three dots). Click Block Account to ban the participant.
You will see the following window, confirming that blocking a guest user will block their IP address. Click Block Account to continue.
To review the accounts and guests you have blocked, go to the top of the chat drawer and click the gearwheel to see more options. Then click Manage Blocked Accounts.
You will see a list of accounts you blocked with a log of when you blocked them. Anyone blocked by IP address was a guest user. Please note that if you block a guest, anyone else chatting under that IP address will also be blocked from your event's chat. This window will indicate how many people were participating under the same IP when you blocked a participant.
To unblock a guest or account, simply click Unblock to the right of their name. Once you do, the text will change to Unblocked and the IP address will be able to access your event's chat again.
