Twitter has unveiled Periscope — a new livestreaming app that looks to put Meerkat out of business.
Meerkat – the first livestreaming app built on Twitter's API – serves the same purpose as its competitor. But early users of Periscope say the new app is more polished, professional, and capable of overtaking Meerkat's 100,000-strong user base.
Built for iOS with an Android version in the works, Periscope works pretty much the same way as Meerkat. Users can broadcast whatever they're doing and their followers can watch the livestream. The major difference is that Periscope saves livestreams by default, which allows users to browse the app.
That means Periscope can still keep people engaged after the livestream has ended. With the bare-bones Meerkat, users encounter the disappointment of tapping on a livestream – only to realize that it's over and the link is dead.
For now, Periscope is a standalone app, but given Periscope and Twitter's mutual focus on real time, it's likely that Twitter will eventually incorporate the service into its platform.
Periscope co-founder Kayvon Beykpour however believes that Periscope should remain a separate app.
"We don't think we need to start there. We think this deserves to be a separate experience indefinitely," Beykpour told The Verge. "We always thought that what we were building, if successful, could be a real-time visual pulse of what's happening around the world."
Periscope gives users a list of all the livestreams happening at that moment, followed by a list of recently recorded streams they can continue to watch, thereby keeping them on the platform. The app also has its own infinite heart-based feedback system that lets broadcasters know watchers still appreciate what's streaming after they first liked it.
The effect is dynamic, with series of hearts continuously bursting on the lower corner of the screen. Beykpour is convinced that the approach will encourage users to do more livestreams.
"It's like the crowd going wild — who doesn't like that?" he said.
Twitter stirred up controversy earlier this year when it pulled the rug out the rug from Meerkat, removing its access to Twitter's social graph. That came shortly after the announcement that Twitter had purchased Periscope for $100 million.
Meerkat believes Twitter doesn't want to give competitors access to its tools. Other Twitter-based apps disagree, saying Twitter cut the cord over Meerkat's practices against Twitter policy.
Madeline Parra, CEO and co-founder of Twizoo, suggested Meerkat's auto-posting, auto-following, and sending notifications without permission – as well as using Twitter's social graph to create its own commenting network – all demonstrated an approach of working against Twitter instead of with it.
"It's the case where a start-up bullishly broke terms of use of a product they are directly reliant upon," Parra said. "It's a lack of strategic thinking on Meerkat's part."
