Twitter Removes Live Stream Guests Option to Improve Broadcast Quality

This is a minor adjustment that will have an impact on some users. Twitter has announced that its video live-stream guests feature, which allowed users to include audio-only guests in their live-stream broadcasts, is being phased out.

As you can see from the first tweet in this chain, Twitter introduced the feature in March of last year, to meet the growing demand for live-stream connectivity. Even when it first launched, Twitter's audio guest feature lagged well behind what other applications had to offer.

Zoom was gaining traction as a live meeting platform at the time, allowing several video participants to join at the same time, while Instagram and Facebook also offered live streaming broadcasts with video guests (though it is worth noting that Facebook retired this option in late 2019, before bringing it back due to the pandemic). That meant that individuals already had lots of options for connecting to live broadcasts with full video functionality and that Twitter's audio guest's option simply didn't catch on, and as a result, Twitter is eliminating it.

One would assume that utilization has been limited; otherwise, Twitter would maintain it – but, as Twitter notes, the removal of its live guest's option would better help Twitter to improve its video playback quality, which has been a focus of late. Interestingly, Facebook just launched a new option for gaming broadcasters to co-stream with pals, indicating that there is a want for this form of interaction and there is a demand for video connection. Just not a video with an audio connection, or at least not enough to offset the server needs that would allow for greater video quality.

Again, it's unlikely to be a significant loss, and if you want to have audio visitors, Twitter Spaces can now fill the void. You can still broadcast on Twitter or elsewhere and cater to all of the varied usage possibilities; you just won't be able to have audio invitees tap into your Twitter streams. It may necessitate an adjustment in emphasis or preparation, but the consequences are likely to be minor.

The change will take effect today, according to Twitter.