Online video streams with Meerkat and Periscope from a helicopter over New York City. Which is better? Photo credit: Anthony Quintano
Meerkat and Periscope are fighting for the future of what might be the Next Big Thing – live video streaming.
Both apps provide live video streaming from smartphones through Twitter. It’s uncertain which app will prevail or if there’s enough room for both of them.
Just a few weeks ago, Meerkat was a digital sensation. Tech journalists and bloggers hailed it as revolutionary. Downloads of the app quickly skyrocketed past 200,000 and venture capitalists invested millions. It now has over 500,000 users. However, Twitter responded quickly by launching a similar app. Just a month after closing the acquisition of Periscope, Twitter integrated and launched the app in two weeks and limited Meerkat’s integration with Twitter.
Although Meerkat added features to circumvent the roadblock, Periscope quickly became one the top social networking apps and was called the Meerkat killer. After all, it boasts tight integration with Twitter. It essentially is Twitter.
The Struggle Continues
But the battle is not over. Periscope is seeing only a few thousand more tweets per day than Meerkat, according to Quartz.
Next month will be critical for Meerkat, say social media experts. Meerkat has several advantages. It has shown it can quickly release new updates. It has the advantage of being perceived as the underdog, and Twitter’s strong-armed action may place it in an unfavorable light.
Some say Periscope is better. It allows both live and recent videos, while Meerkat’s streams are entirely public and live only. It also automatically links with Twitter followers, and lets users limit who can see their webcasts, and its streaming seems more reliable.
“There is a long way to go to see Periscope being a better service and fully monetized,” opines IOL, “but it seems very difficult to see a reason why people would now use Meerkat. Periscope is “good enough” and will only get better.”
The Many “Killer” Products
Start-ups regularly introduce new products that are supposed to be the “killer” of this or that product. Jason O. Gilbert at Yahoo cited 16 smartphones called iPhone killers between 2008 and 2011. Apple sold over 190 million iPhones last year.
Facebook launched an alleged Twitter killer and two Snapchat killers. Obviously, both networks remain alive and well, said Eric Jackson, founder and managing partner of Iron fire Capital LLC, for Forbes. We’ve also seen Google launch a Groupon killer and a Facebook killer. Bloggers and media outlets typically hype new products, probably in an attempt to attract clickthoughs and boost page views.
Whatever happens, video streaming through social media is sure to revolutionize online marketing by delivering real-time engagement. Brands can instantly stream videos and immediately see and respond to comments and questions. Individuals can share their life experiences in video sent to friends.
Public relations pros could use the services to stream press conferences, interviews with company executives and other subject matter experts, and videos on any other topic.
Bottom Line: The next several weeks may reveal who will win the emerging live video streaming space. Marketers and PR pros will probably experiment with both apps and keep a close watch on quickly evolving online video apps. Live streaming video offers great potential for marketers and early adopters may gain the upper hand.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
I use periscope on my iPhone 6 and works really good.