Are you up to date with your streaming services? — Here’s some advice from the experts

August 24, 2022/Products/

Hang with me here for just a second and we will get to some great information for streaming. . . .

I might as well admit to you all – I’m not a big Facebook guy. I’ve probably been a member for 15 years or so and my profile will tell you that I have 32 friends and 111 friend requests. You see, after being a member for a short period of time I got tired of seeing so much stuff that I really didn’t care about and I just quit accepting friends.

However, I do check in every once in a while to some pages I enjoy. . . such as pages for funeral directors such as Funeral Director Daily and for some reason, I get a feed from some dog lover sites also. That’s not surprising because my wife and I enjoy dogs and enjoy seeing them interact.

It was on Facebook the other day and clicked what was a dog video. However, the sound was missing and it was captioned by the creator with a caption something like this, “I don’t know what’s wrong, but I cannot get sound out of my Facebook videos anymore”.

That reminded me of something I had just read from our friends at OneRoom Streaming — the experts in funeral home streaming services. One of the things I had read was that streaming through Facebook might cause sound to be intentionally muted because of copyright issues. Now I’m not an expert on copyright issues either but here is the article I found on the OneRoom Streaming blog that may just give you some understanding and help your funeral home get streaming set up in the proper way. For what it is worth, I think streaming, done correctly and professionally, is going to be, if it is not already, a must in the death care memorial business with the growing number of online funeral and memorial service watchers. And, I think companies like OneRoom Streaming can help you deliver that service, with the proper expertise, to the consumer.

This article from OneRoom Streaming blog was dated June 20, 2022, and was entitled “3 Reasons funeral homes are moving away from Facebook Live streaming”. . . Here it is verbatim:

When the pandemic gripped the globe in early 2020, the funeral industry needed a live-streaming solution—and fast. As non-essential businesses shuttered and quarantine protocols were put in place, many funeral directors turned to existing technology such as Facebook live to meet the needs of families and offer a meaningful ceremony for their loved ones.

Now, over two years have passed and our world has forever changed. Virtual work and telehealth are ubiquitous; people, regardless of profession, rely on the geographic freedom that technology can offer. Funeral directors are still being asked to offer live-streaming and recording services, and the value of the family having a recording to keep has been recognized, but Facebook Live and comparable platforms are proving not to be the best long-term solutions.

“This month, 80% of funeral homes who switched to OneRoom presented a common theme – Facebook live caused too many problems. They needed a reliable and trustworthy video recording service.” – James Montgomery, OneRoom National Sales Director

Here are the main reasons funeral directors are leaving traditional social media platforms and turning to more sustainable, higher-quality live-streaming solutions like OneRoom:

1. Services recordings failing on Facebook due to music copyright issues

Many families choose specific music to play during a ceremony—oftentimes, this holds sentimental value for their loved ones. However, during Facebook Lives and other social media streams, algorithms detect background music and will automatically halt a stream due to copyright concerns. This means all of the viewers who are not physically present at the service are booted from their virtual room and left in the dark. Then, if they want to find out what happened and rejoin, there is no dedicated support number to call. The experience is cut short all because of a song. The USA National Funeral Directors Association even released an official recommendation against using Facebook Live due to music copyright concerns.

When families use a private, managed service, they can choose any music they want, as there is no copyright algorithm running in the background. This eliminates the risk of the virtual ceremony ending too soon, ensuring guests in-person and online can watch—and listen—together.

2. Inappropriate content being served to viewers on Facebook

Funeral ceremonies are sacred events—and guest lists should be firmly upheld as the families have outlined. However, Facebook Lives can be easily set to public, allowing anyone on the internet to enter and comment in the chat, which runs alongside the stream. There is limited regulation.

In an era of internet trolls, one can imagine the destructive potential of this scenario. It can also cause genuine confusion. One Twitter user explains how people joined her grandfather’s funeral “asking in the comments for details about another person’s funeral.”

But chat room pings aren’t the only concern: ads, post-stream autoplay, and recommendations also disrupt the viewer experience of the funeral. “When you watch a funeral on Facebook Live,” another Twitter user wrote, “it sometimes recommends a new funeral to you when it ends.”

These situations alienate viewers during a time of great pain, when privacy is crucial. Services such as OneRoom promise that the only people present for the virtual service are on the family’s guest list, eliminating bad actors or displaced visitors in the chat room, as well as ads and recommendations.

3. No support available from Facebook when things go wrong

The internet isn’t perfect and sometimes we all need a little help. Beyond general FAQs and intake forms, however, Facebook Live and similar platforms do not offer a support contact who can address a viewer’s needs in a timely manner. The consequences are severe: When the live-streaming experience is self-managed, anxiety is increased during an already stressful time, the focus is shifted away from the family who, in addition to mourning, have to set up the stream, and the service is disrupted if there is a tech hiccup.

But there are specialists who can help. With OneRoom, tech logistics are taken care of by a dedicated person who ensures the service is being recorded and streamed properly; everything is scheduled ahead for seamless operation and in-chapel cameras offer multiple clear views and automatically start and stop. If there are issues with the connection in the chapel, this specialist is on the case; if a virtual viewer is having difficulty watching, they’ll be there to assist.

Furthermore, though Facebook Live has recording capabilities, the videos can be hard to find and are of questionable quality. OneRoom specialists make sure the service is recorded properly and shared with the family and guests who can view it for years to come.

To learn more about OneRoom Streaming click here.

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