8 Useful Tips on How to Use Instagram Live — and Actually Enjoy It

Friends with your co-workers or boss on Instagram? You can always hide your story and live video from them in a few steps. Go to Profile > Story Settings > Hide Story From > and then pick the people you want to keep away from your live video.

We all have that one friend who thinks it's hilarious to be a troll and say slightly inappropriate things. Thankfully, you can control which comments make it to your live video (and which ones show up on your feed). Go to Profile > Comments and then choose from two options: one will hide "comments that contain words or phrases often reported as offensive." Or you can add your own keywords that will flag and hide comments.

Before you go live, Instagram will check your connection and do a three-second countdown. So if you're not totally ready, you have a few seconds to put yourself together before going live.

Set an example of the types of comments you appreciate by pinning a comment. Once a comment appears, you can tap on it and select "Pin Comment." To unpin, just tap on it again and turn it off.

If you want an uninterrupted live video, you can turn off comments. Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner where it says "Comment" and you'll see an option to turn it off.

If you don't want to be bothered by certain people going live, then mute them. To do this, hold down on their profile photo at the top of your feed. A pop-up window will show up and you can mute them. Just remember, you won't see their live video or Instagram stories.

No one will see your live video ever again!

Now, once you're done recording a live video, you'll see the option to save it to your phone (not the app). So while others won't be able to rewatch it, you can.