Anyone who ever dreamt of having their 15 minutes of fame now has it right in the palm of their hands.
Through their smartphones.
Just several weeks after Meerkat started a revolution in the social media, Twitter decided to snatch the throne for live streaming videos off of it.
Meerkat is an app that lets its users live-stream videos from their respective locations— whenever and wherever.
Live streaming has been around for decades, albeit nearly solely for the purpose of television newscasts. Yet in the short period of time that the live video app gained traction among the social media users, Meerkat has shown that live streaming— although nothing new— is something else entirely when placed in the hands of social media users.
But even though Meerkat is responsible for starting a social media revolution, the limitations that suppressed it eventually led the once-promising app into its early demise.
The idea of Meerkat was embraced by many, but the audience for the live streaming app was limited to the user’s Twitter followers. Notifications of a user’s live stream broadcasts were only sent to his followers on Twitter.
Meerkat was at the mercy of Twitter. And the limited functions that the live streaming app offered… just wasn’t enough.
Fast-forward to several weeks later, Twitter takes matters into its own hands. After seeing the amazing things live streaming can do when placed in the hands of social media users, Twitter bought Meerkat’s rival and took the revolution into a whole new level.
Like Meerkat, Periscope is a live streaming video app that allows its users to broadcast their live videos to an audience. But unlike Meerkat, Periscope is not at the mercy of Twitter. Because Periscope IS Twitter. The social media giant bought the then-unknown Periscope for a handsome $120 million without even batting an eyelash.
And now it’s ready to take the world by storm.
Without the limitations that restrained Meerkat from becoming a full-blown success, Periscope is guaranteed to reign in the live streaming app business today and in the years to come.
Unlike Meerkat, Periscope lets its users browse through live streaming feeds from countless other Periscopers all over the world. It has a newsfeed that’s accessible from the app itself, and users can ‘like’ and comment on live streaming videos in real-time. Browsing through live feeds is not limited to those that a user follows on Twitter— and anyone, anywhere can check feeds from practically everyone on Periscope— anytime they please.
If you’re determined to get that 15 seconds of fame, head on over here.
But there’s one tiny catch— Periscope only works on iOS handheld devices. Or at least for the moment.