Unless you’ve been living on a remote desert island over the last few months you can’t have failed to see or hear about the explosion of live streaming usage attributed mainly to two rival streaming apps – Meerkat and Twitter native app, Periscope. 

Both enabled any user to broadcast live video captured on their smartphone to their fellow streaming app users while also promoting the stream via Twitter.

Although first to the market, Meerkat suffered a potentially devastating blow just weeks after launch – Twitter launched Periscope and blocked Meerkat from the Twitter social graph, making it’s Twitter integration less than ideal. Meerkat has struck back recently though and formed an alliance with Facebook – there’s still some way to go before full integration but it’s a promising and interesting collaboration. In the end your final preference of app really depends on your live streaming goals, your audience and your personal preference.

So what’s the difference between the two rival apps? 

Here’s a quick rundown of the most well known differences:

Periscope
– Cleaner more professional design
– Integrates seamlessly with Twitter
– 24 hours (after the event) replay access
– Access to analytical data ie. No. of viewers, time watched, duration, retention etc and Twitter follower info
– Instant streaming
– Commenting, Following & ‘like’ options

Meerkat
– Schedule broadcasts for a later date
– More cluttered interface
– 30 second delay on ‘instant messaging’
– Commenting, Following and ‘like’ options
– No replay or save ability after broadcast
– More limited Twitter integration
– Developing Facebook integration
– ‘Cameo’ follower takeover feature

Should my business be using these?
If you’ve a product, event or cause then these platforms are worth considering. If you’ve a big product launch you could stream it to your followers, maybe you want to be the next Jamie Oliver and stream cookery lessons or you’re an artist and want to give live insight into your art and techniques or even offer gardening tips to your followers – the possibilities are endless – it could even be used to broadcast breaking news!

Let’s be clear though, the quality is based on the smartphone you’re using so don’t expect HD broadcast quality. In addition you can only film in portrait orientation, you’ll potentially suffer shakes and wobbles and let’s hope your WiFi/4G connection doesn’t drop. On the upside – they’re cheap, relatively easy to set up and are not restricted to time or memory limitations as they’re live – just your smartphones’ signal. So experiment and see if you’ve an audience out there and get streaming!

If you want to know more about how social media can help your business get in touch with me at http://paulkirkdesign.co.uk or at @PKirk_designer