Instagram Just Rolled Out A Major Upgrade To Its Live Features

In the earliest iterations of Instagram Live, it was only you and your 'gram-ready home setup that could interact with your followers in real-time. But now, gone are the days when you had to go on alone or with only one fellow streamer — you no longer have to choose your one friend to rule them all when you want to go live with another person. To stream with up to three of your pals, you'll want to learn how to use Instagram Live Rooms.

What Are Instagram Live Rooms?

Instagram Lives — with two people waxing poetic on anything under the sun — were the unsung hero of quarantine. Now, instead of just you and one other human, Instagram Live Rooms will enable up to four people to go live during the same conversation — and that's bound to make for richer real-time chats all around.

As part of the March 1 unveiling, Instagram will be hosting several of its own Live Rooms in the first few days of the month to offer some models for what you can use these rooms for. To show what these Live Rooms can have to offer, there will be two #BuyBlack Instagram Live Room conversations on March 3, an LGBTQ+ wellness conversation on March 4, and a chat about innovating and creating on Instagram on March 5. These conversations are meant to follow up on a year's worth of people using Instagram Live for everything from rap battles to celebrity interviews — except now, more people can be featured on the same live stream.

How Do You Use Instagram Live Rooms?

As with viewing regular Instagram Live sessions, when someone hosts a Live Room, the icon to watch will show up at the front of your Stories tray, with a little "Live" icon underneath. Click it to hop into the room.

If you want to virtually grab a few friends and open a Live Room together, there are just a few steps to follow:

• Swipe left and tap the Live camera option.
• Input a title.
• Press the Rooms icon to add people to your stream.
• Check out who's requested to go live with you, or search for a user to invite yourself.
• Invite up to three other participants, in whatever order you choose (you'll stay at the top of the screen since you're the main broadcaster).
• Enjoy the fact that your guests' followers will also be notified that they're live in your room.

When you're looking to revisit the Olden Days when IRL interactions happened all the time, Instagram Live Rooms can give you that age-old feel of chatting with a group (your fellow Live Roomies) amidst a crowd (your followers). Whether you're looking to pop into other people's Live Rooms and check out their conversations or start some serious discussions of your own, Instagram Live Rooms can bring you back to sweet IRL convos.