During the year 2016, we observed a shift in trend in the way Twitter – the microblogging platform, has been used. Event coverage became a focus area of the 140-character limited service, and the results – as observed during sports events, amidst political rallies & especially during the Syrian war – created powerful cults following the bits of information pouring in through tweets.
Cashing on this trend, the social media platform on Wednesday completed a major, long-awaited integration with its live video app Periscope.
The company announced the new development saying:
With video on Twitter, you can capture and share life’s meaningful moments — from your perspective. Now it’s simple to shoot clips, make cuts, and share your world in vivid, moving detail.
Now twitter users can broadcast live video directly from Twitter’s flagship app, regardless of whether they’ve downloaded Periscope or have an account. Just like on Periscope, viewers of live video on Twitter can engage with the broadcaster through comments and hearts. Just like the regular, normal tweets, any tweets containing live video can be retweeted, liked and shared. The company announced the update to roll out globally starting on Wednesday on both iOS and Android. The move should help Twitter compete with Facebook, which has been heavily promoting its live video tools ever since they rolled out to all users early this year.
Periscope’s head of engineering Sara Haider said in an interview:
“Twitter is about real-time and what’s happening in the moment. Live video creates experiences you can engage in and be part of.”
Both Twitter and Periscope have been means of documenting the unfoldings, happening as is — whether that’s outside your window or across the globe. With Periscope launched only last year, people have created over 100 million live broadcasts. In the first phase of moving towards live streaming, in January of 2016, Twitter launched an integration which enabled people to watch Periscope broadcasts — both live and replays — directly into Tweets.
The current update builds on this earlier integration. To go live from Twitter, users click to compose a Tweet and tap a “Live” button which opens a pre-broadcast screen where the users can then shoot the frame. When they’re ready with the frame selection, they can tap a “Go Live” button to launch the live stream. Live videos created from Twitter will appear on both Twitter and Periscope, and users on either app can engage like in any reply thread to a regular tweet, with the live video and the creator.
Live videos created on either Twitter or Periscope app can be searched through Periscope.tv’s web player. However, the feasibility of Twitter company to maintain a standalone live video app (Periscope) in light of the current integration is yet to be established.
Haider said she expects the update to prompt Twitter users to broadcast live more often and for longer periods of time.
“The integration allows broadcasters to leverage Twitter’s audience.”
With the new age culture of visual documentation we have little doubt in the success of new development.
Photo: Ernesto Ruscio/Stringer/Getty Images
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