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@alexia @dtrinh @rrhoover
Thanks Ryan! I think David Pierce did a great job covering the backstory here after we spoke in detail about it: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/per...
I think Joe and I sort had the same inkling around the same time. For me, my trip to Turkey planted the seed. We both were fascinated by the idea of seeing the world, right now, through someone else's eyes. But our approach / execution has changed A LOT from when we first started working on the idea. We definitely didn't start with live streaming in mind (we didn't want to make a video company for the sake of having a live video company). We started with photos, and a flow that resembled more of a marketplace. Basically: you'd put a 'bounty' on something you'd want to see, and other people could put claims on that bounty in the form of photos. Say I wanted to see what it was like at the Tokyo Fish Market.. you could create request and have others submit photos (that could then get upvoted/downvoted).
We had a lot of fun building it, and using it but realized a few things 1) Photos aren't a great way of seeing what's happening right now, somewhere. Just not dynamic enough, and "now" enough. 2) Exploring the world through a marketplace model is incredibly hard without massive scale. Huge cold start problem (What are the odds that there's somebody out there to fulfill a request for some specific thing I'm looking for?)
We realized that live video could be a really powerful in letting you see what was happening right now (It's LIVE; it's unfiltered, it's unfettered). And we decided to flip the model and let anybody share, if they had something they wanted to show the world. Those gut changes led to our subsequent prototype, which started to take the form of what Periscope looks like today (at least, conceptually). Still, between that point and today was months of self discovery and iteration.
Looking forward to talking to you more about the story when we get together :)
@alexia @dtrinh @kayvz @rrhoover The future will be very interesting with millions of people using this. With the location data Twitter could start digitising events with all the videos they have. Mix it up with some VR and you could relive important historic events like you were there.
Here's an almost 3 year old thought provoking piece on this by @raymazza, lead game designer of The Sims: http://www.raymazza.com/blog/how...
This won't kill Meerkat any time soon because Meerkat already established a unique community and culture that will be very hard for anyone to take away. That's the power of community, when you have two very similar products, people remain loyal to the place where they feel like they belong, and they're invested.
That's not to say some people won't switch. And periscope will undoubtedly build their own community and culture. I've been following both for a few weeks now and I see the way people use and think about Periscope is different.
Ultimately we're going to see two unique products developed over time with unique communities loyal to each. Which one will get bigger and ultimately be the #1? TBD. Meerkat has the first mover advantage. Periscope has a Goliath behind it. And it's a long road from here.
What are the advantages that this has over Meerkat? One I can see is maybe the analytics post-stream.
@_jacksmith "Unlike Meerkat, Periscope can save streams so that you can replay them later. It turns out to be Periscope’s killer feature — and the main reason that it’s likely to become my live-streaming platform of choice." - http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/2...
Although there is #katch on Meerkat now.
@_jacksmith the major advantage is that you can run Periscope on iOS 7.1, which means that people who have an iPhone 4 or that have decided to stay on iOS 7.1 can use the app.
The main difference between the two apps will be the community they manage to build.
@_jacksmith @pierrickgt Definitely agree it all comes down to the community! Note: if anyone is on iOS 7.1 still, they should upgrade.
@_jacksmith Maybe for users - having a chance to rise to the top? (I haven't downloaded it yet.) But I did find that not being a "day 1, first 5 hours adopter of Meerkat" sunk my ability to rise on the platform. Also, I need more friends.... :/
@benln @jackrometty After you finish streaming on Meerkat, there is a big, green "Save this stream" button
Someone said there was a Meerkat party on Product Hunt so I checked my Persicope.
@benln @paulprins $14m at a 40m valuation from Greylock (dont quote me) but ya time to pivot boys! Meerkat Roulette
I love the floating hearts. They create a visceral feeling of being loved. It seems like they trigger an tight positive feedback cycle where the streamer feels more motivated to do more interesting things that immediately results in more hearts.
@jiggityk So glad you feel that way. That's exactly what we were going for. None of us on the team consider ourselves "performers", so the idea of being live, on-stage in a broadcast felt pretty stressful. We wanted to find a way to reduce the anxiety associated with being live.
When we first tried the "fluttering and flying" effect, the hearts just made us smile. And, as you mentioned, it really tightened the feedback loop because it 1) provided an easy way for viewers to say "i'm here, and i like!" without much work and 2) provided an easy form of validation for broadcasters (my viewers are engaged and happy!)
Pretty bummed that, just like Meerkat, this launched iOS-only. Huge chunk of the market going unserved right now, and that doesn't just hurt Android users, it hurts all the iOS users who can't share experiences with many of their real-life friends.
iOS only launches happen all the time & I understand the development reasons for it but was hoping with Twitter funding that Periscope might come out the door with both.
Massive congrats to @kayvz and team on the Persicope launch. I've been a huge fan of the beta, and am really stoked that it's out there for everyone to see now!
@mg Thanks Galligan. Been so great seeing you use the beta. Gotta use that Olliclip more!
It will be interesting to watch Meerkat and Periscope duel it out. Differences in UX and features aren't relevant. The winner is going to be whoever has the best content. The platform that wins will be wherever the celebrities and big-name Youtubers end up...
I'm surprised by the amount of cynicism on this thread re: meerkat.
What's the big difference? It's not features. Periscope may be more feature rich now but not for long.
The big difference is strategic.
Periscope is off the market and won't be able to see through all of the insights they've had after becoming part of a publicly traded company well before spreading its wings in public. Vine obscurity is about as probabilistic as a successful outcome.
Meerkat on the other hand is independent and platform agnostic. Meaning it will get much more support outside of Twitter and has a better chance of wider adoption outside of twitter's "mere" 290m active user base.
Case and point, meerkat is featured in the App Store today, not periscope.
You can draw the line as Twitter + periscope vs. meerkat + fb (also grey lock) + google + apple + everything else not Twitter. Plenty of distribution and community for meerkat to capture.
@guygal "Case and point, meerkat is featured in the App Store today, not periscope." Meerkat was featured since last week. Apple updates the featured page every Thursday. It hasn't been updated yet. I am pretty sure Periscope will get featured today.
Edit: Called it. Featured today on App Store. :) Meerkat still trending on the list as well though.
@guygal - both Periscope and Meerkat are brand new and startups are multiple year journeys. It's too early to "claim" a winner and the truth is, it's not an either / or. Livestreaming is a massive opportunity and there's room for many players, especially if you see this bleeding into traditional TV and video consumption behavior (which I do).
Being a part of Twitter gives Periscope some interesting opportunities, and closes others (e.g. you might not see tight Facebook integration, at least for a while). Curious to hear more about this from @kayvz.
P.S. Vine is not obscure. It might be relatively off the radar for this tech audience but it still has millions of active users.
@rrhoover agree regarding "claiming a winner" and all the upside in the 20 years ahead... already bleeding into TV, NBC News used meerkat to live stream an interview on the Rachel Maddow show last week. To quote Rachel, "whoa, a live stream used to take tens of thousands of dollars and a day to set up".
RE: Vine, depends on your definition. Yes, millions of active users that consume the content, but creators who actually get views number in the hundreds and most people don't know what Vine is. So not obscure/unknown in the tech world, but certainly is in the consumer market.
Super curious to understand if @kayvz has plans (and/or permission space) to eventually path Periscope outside of Twitter or if the end game is just deeper integration.
There are 2 reasons why I instantly like this better than Meerkat.
1.) Beautiful UI, easy-to-understand UX
2.) There's a fine line between "growth" and "spam" when it comes to onboarding tactics. Meerkat made me question the autopushing to Twitter as one or the other (still undecided). It did leave an opening bad taste in my mouth however that I haven't been able to quite get rid of.
Periscope feels like a natural extension of what Twitter is/can be.
Ironically, I was having issues connecting to Twitter this morning to share my feed. I'm guessing this has been controlled on purpose as it rolls out?
Impressed. Meerkat was first to market, but that sure didn't last long. Periscope is like a grown up version of Meerkat. I think both can succeed, but I feel like Periscope has the upper hand, especially when people like Jimmy Fallon are switching over to the new hotness. Users will follow the brands and celebs.
Some of the assumptions here are the usual that only 1 app, service, startup, platform will survive and grow. In a competing field, you may have 1 dominate company, but that never means you can't have competition. Sure Uber is the major player, but Lyft still exists, the taxi business hasn't gone out of business (though taxi medallions are dropping in value).
The binary thinking of success is probably the one thing that annoys me most in the tech industry. I figure its mostly due to funding. Its harder to get investment funds if you're trying to launch something that competes with an existing platform that's received major funding from a major VC firm. The underdog can survive and thrive. Multiple businesses can serve the same needs of the market and all do just fine. Meerkat will most likely do just fine in the face of Periscope. We'll probably see half a dozen me-toos coming along, several of which will also find a niche and audience and create their own value and market.
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