Have you heard of Periscope? I have, but until a friend asked about it I had never considered using it. Now that I have explored the app I’m ready to give my review. I don’t have a following yet, and I don’t know how much I will use it, but it is an interesting concept. If you need more than words to say it, live stream it.
Live Stream
Periscope is for Android and iOS. You can live stream a
nd chat via Periscope. There is an option for keeping your live stream private or sharing with select followers. You can be connected automatically to trending Periscopes and see the world through another person’s eyes. I watched a beautiful live stream of a hot air balloon ride. I was also connected to live sessions at SXSW.
One disadvantage to Periscope that I found was the sound quality. It was hard to hear what the presenters at the SXSW event were saying. When I did my test using the front facing camera on my phone, the sound came out fine.
Periscope is designed to use on phones and tablets. Don’t want to watch live streams on your mobile device? You can connect to periscope via your computer on their couch potato link. A word of caution, you will be connected to a live periscope and there is no telling what you will see.
I signed up for Periscope by using my twitter account. When you do this, you can post your live streams to Twitter. Pretty cool. My guess is that you can then share your live stream to other social media platforms via a link. I forgot to test that before I deleted my test stream.
You don’t have to be on Periscope to view a live stream. If you have a link to the live stream, you can view it in your favorite browser.
With Facebooks new option for live streaming, I don’t know how long Periscope will last. I have followers on Facebook. I don’t have followers on Periscope. You will have to make the decision as to whether you are willing to curate a new following on a new social media platform.
Warning
Periscope is not for the young or faint of heart. You don’t know what you are going to see and the comments can be a bit unsavory.
What do you think? Will you try Periscope or live streaming on Facebook? Which would you be more likely to use?
Great post, Jamie. I had heard of Periscope but hadn’t checked it out, and like you said it is just another social media tool to learn. It might be something I will keep in mind for later, I will see if it takes off or not.
Thank you, Jill! I think it is a great way to reach a segment of Twitter followers. I think I would be more likely to use the Facebook live option. I wish there was a platform to live stream to both Facebook and Twitter at the same time. Thank you for your comment!
Thanks for this, Jamie! I’ve also heard about Periscope but didn’t know much about it.
You are welcome, Janet. I was not very familiar with Periscope. I may or may not continue to use it. It was fun exploring and I am sure there is much more to learn. Thank you for your comment.