YouTube introduces game-changing new feature for live streams

YouTube has announced that creators will soon be able to deploy a question-and-answer session in chat during a live broadcast or YouTube Premieres thanks to a new tool called “Live Q&A” session. The question-and-answer session can be moderated, and the restrictions that apply to your live chat settings will also apply to the session itself. This means that if you have specific terms that are forbidden, they will also be forbidden in the Q&A section of the website. Additionally, content creators will have the ability to submit questions for moderation, and users will be able to flag questions that they feel violate YouTube’s community guidelines.

This new feature has been launched in hopes that it is going to make live streams even more interactive and will appear alongside Live Polls. Third party software solutions have offered similar functionality, but most of them require a paid membership for these features or for higher definition (4K) broadcasts. Luckily, this is one more feature creators can now use without having to pay a premium to have more successful live streams.

According to the feature notes, the questions on the Q&A will be arranged in chronological order, with the most recent ones appearing first. There is no limit to the number of questions participants may ask, but after you have answered 200 of them, the oldest questions on your list will be removed. Live Q&A questions are managed by the same systems that allow monitoring of live chats, such as blocking words, holding messages for review, and reporting inappropriate content.

Additionally, only users that have Manager or Editor channel access will be able to modify the Q&A list, which may present a problem for channels that make use of the “moderator” role instead. This includes looking at the Questions List, choosing which questions to answer, eliminating questions from the Questions List, and doing other similar tasks. Hopefully this changes in the future and moderators are given more access within Q&As, since that seems like the entire point of having that role in the first place.