Right here! Right now! Live and Breaking!
We may be tired of hearing these words on primetime news programming with each passing day, but the lure of the real-time is undeniable. Be it a live stage performance or a cricket match, everyone loves being right there, in the moment, as it happens. So it’s no surprise a couple of apps — adorably named Meerkat and Periscope — which bring the power of live-streaming right from your mobile phone are all the rage on social media these days, with “meerkating” and “periscoping” fast becoming the latest social media buzzwords. That’s right — anything from your mundane dinner proceedings to that blow-your-mind bungee jump — if you can see it, you can broadcast it!
If you’ve missed the news wave about Meerkat and Periscope, here’s a quick rundown for the uninitiated: Meerkat and Periscope are iPhone apps that let you live-stream video of whatever it is you’re doing, directly from your phone to your Twitter followers — think video selfies or video feeds of whatever your phone camera can see, no matter where you are, what you’re doing and for how long. It’s the ability to do all this right from your phone that’s the really big deal — just ask anyone who’s grappled with the technical challenges of live-streaming an event to an audience. In all fairness, Google’s Hangouts on Air feature started the trend a few years ago, but with Meerkat and Periscope, live-streaming’s gone mainstream, so that just about anyone with a Twitter account and a smart phone can host what is, effectively, their own show in real-time. Think about it — until recently, the only options used to be to record something live from your phone and then push it out on your social networks via Vine or Instagram, after the event. Apart from simplifying livestreaming for non-geeks, both apps also allow direct engagement with the broadcaster, where viewers can ask questions or comment on the video, which the video creator can then respond to.
Both apps have a lot in common – they have a live feed of current broadcasts, with Meerkat showing you the people you are following on its home screen, while Periscope displays a list of broadcasts from all users. Both offer comments as feedback mechanism, and both integrate to Twitter to push out notifications to your followers that you’re broadcasting. One crucial difference though: Periscope has been recently acquired by Twitter and in good ol’ competitive spirit, Meerkat’s ability to import Twitter contacts has been restricted and you have to add folks you want to follow manually (as opposed to Periscope’s nifty import feature that lets you bring in your Twitter contacts in a jiffy!) They’re both only available on the iPhone, but Meerkat’s on the verge of pushing out an Android version as well.
Separated at birth, then? Not exactly — there’s much to tell both these apps apart, and one of these distinguishing features is likely to sway you towards one app or the other. Meerkat, for instance, lets you schedule a broadcast. So if you’re planning an event, folks who follow you will get notified about the scheduled event. Periscope lets you turn on GPS location, Meerkat does not. Private broadcasts — being able to pick specific users to stream to — is only available in Periscope, so it’s a lot more suited for family events or private moments that you wouldn’t want to be broadcast to all your followers. Periscope’s killer feature though, is replay of live streams within a 24-hour window — particularly useful if your followers can’t tune in to an event at the right time but might still find the content useful. No such option on Meerkat, although broadcasters can save the show to their phone’s gallery for sharing later. Finally, Periscope has Twitter’s backing in the battle for livestreaming supremacy, so if you’re going to take a bet on which app will better integrate with your Twitter experience going forward… it’s an obvious choice.
No matter which app you choose, the possibilities that Meerkat and Periscope open up are exciting for businesses and individuals alike. Putting live video into the hands of users with an easy way to broadcast opens up all sorts of possibilities for how we share and view content. Take me, for instance. I get to attend tech events and the latest gadget launches, and both apps are a great way for letting me bring my Twitter followers in on the experience of attending the show. Consider the following use cases — I’m pretty sure more than one will appeal to you.
Business meetings
Turn on the private sharing feature in Periscope, and you could have field sales personnel report back to the head office with a location report, or have the folks in headquarters broadcast their meetings across branch offices spread across the country.
Children’s events
Why should distance stop families from seeing when the kids walk up on to the stage to receive an award, or when they deliver that awesome dance performance? This would be a great option for traveling parents to be there in the moment.
Weddings and family functions
Let’s face facts, not everyone can attend every family function, and Periscope would be a great way to privately stream the event to friends and family across the world. Even the mundane — a live cooking lesson from mother to a recently-moved-out son or daughter — would be so much better in real-time!
Live concerts and street performances
This is borderline illegal, but given how much concert footage gets recorded anyway, it’s a pretty spectacular way to share a concert with friends and followers who aren’t able to attend. It’d be heavy on your data connection if you plan to live-stream the whole event, though.
Citizen journalism
Armed with a cellphone, folks such as you or I could start broadcasting when an event unfolds in front of us — bringing attention to those who need it, or for causes that matter.
Doctor visits
Immensely useful if you wish to include out-of-town family into a doctor consultation for an elder, where there is a need to share information and ask questions in real-time.
Digital marketing
Use it for behind the scenes videos, tutorials or event broadcasts — how your brand leverages these apps and integrates them into your overall marketing/ social strategy is really up to you. Just remember that since this is live, work to a plan (and a script) else you’ll start losing followers instead.