YouTube rolls out ‘Live Q&A’ feature to better manage livestreams interactions

YouTube has introduced a new “Live Q&A” feature aimed at creators on the platform to help them better manage and handle the questions that subscribers throw at them during livestreams. YouTube Live Q&A is another effective way for creators and viewers to talk to each other in real time.

This YouTube Live Q&A feature can be used during livestreams or premieres. When creators use Live Q&A, a prompt will appear as a pinned message in the chat. Viewers can submit their questions, and creators can select any one of them and pin it. This will allow the viewers to understand to whom the creator is responding.

Notably, this is a far better way for creators to handle questions barged at them during livestreams. Previously, the creators had to swim through a sea of questions submitted during a live chat. The new YouTube Live Q&A feature will organize the questions and be better for both the creator and the viewer.

Once the Q&A session is over, the creator can switch back to the standard live chat. To use this feature, you need to schedule or start a live stream. Click the “+” icon under Live Chat in Live Control Room, and select the “Start a Q&A” option. Type the prompt you wish to feature in the box, and hit “Start Q&A”. Your prompt will become a pinned chat, and here your viewers will be able to submit their questions.

Also, as noted by YouTube, the questions will be ordered chronologically, meaning the questions submitted first will appear at the top. While there is no limit to how many questions can be submitted, the oldest question will no longer appear in the list after 200 more have been submitted.

The YouTube Live Q&A feature isn't available on mobile and is only for desktops for now. Furthermore, the details of the live Q&A will not be visible in YouTube Analytics, and viewers can only submit one question per minute. However, all of that is likely to change in the future as Google continues work on the new feature.