Latin America. First was Meerkat, a mobile application that allowed its users to broadcast live video through their mobile device with iOS or Android system. This App was launched in February 2015 and by March of the same year it was already very popular.
The giant Twitter seeing this, responded aggressively by cutting off Meerkat's access to its social network and announced the acquisition of the competitor's application, Periscope, the launch of this application was given on March 26, 2015 and the App entered improving what was offered by Meerkat with the option to play the video later, up to 24 hours after the broadcast, thus sending Meerkat to disuse in a short time.
Then appears on stage Upclose, an App created by the Spanish company Rushmore, which in principle, was focused on connecting artists with their fans through live video, then Facebook joined this wave, with Facebook Live and now it is the turn for Youtube with live streaming.
As often happens with great ideas, many saw it as a fashion to broadcast live videos based on the applications of Meerkat or Periscope, however, streaming on social networks is the new milestone of online communication, becoming useful tools for media and communication agencies, since it allows them to broadcast to the world any event instantly and without having to pass a video or content editor, something somewhat dangerous.
Twitter's live streaming platform already has more than 10 million registered users and more than two million users who watch and broadcast live videos, according to figures released by the company.
Facebook recently launched its own streaming tool: Facebook Live, within its Facebook Mentions program, which has some similarity with Periscope, although unlike it, it saves videos uninterruptedly and allows the broadcast of live videos of up to 30 minutes, this tool within a profile records up to 10 times more comments than offline recordings.
This battle for live video has long been led by Twitter and Facebook, that has not been an obstacle for new competitors to burst into the market, such as Youtube, Tumblr or Snapchat.
For its part, Youtube already offers a live streaming service limited to verified accounts that have not been sanctioned under its use policies, it is expected that soon this functionality will be extended to all users of the social network through Youtube Connect for iOS and Android, which will allow sharing content directly from the smartphone.
The companies Tumblr and Snapchat are other emerging platforms on the streaming service. Tumblr only allows you to share live videos, while Snapchat opted for the advantages of streaming through My Story, a platform that saves content 24 hours and creates a movie that can be released later to suit the user.
Twitter does not give truce and already announced the launch of a new tool for video with Periscope Producer API, this is more than an App because it offers new ways to share video and allows you to start live broadcasts with professional teams, without the need to connect them through the App with which they entered this trend. Twitter had already launched Not long ago Periscope Producer, which connects professional devices such as cameras and production software to Periscope.
Now, the social network surprises us by expanding the previous offer allowing applications developed by third parties to authenticate Periscope accounts, if we remember its beginnings, Twitter blocked Meerkat and now on the contrary gives the go-ahead to configure, start and / or stop broadcasts and publish live video on Twitter. To do this, it named four partners: the Switchboard Cloud web platform, Livestream with its Mevo camera, works with Teradek's video encoder and software applications and finally links Telestream with its WireCast software.
With this strategy it is clear that Twitter expects to increase the diffusions of live videos through Periscope, it is strongly committed to the big media seeing on its platform a way to bring their content to more people and with the best possible quality.
Live videos are an opportunity for brands because they can reduce the time to transmit a message, create engagement, increase interaction with the public and offer updated and interesting content. This implies a high risk, without a doubt, Twitter and Facebook, have already been forced to activate mechanisms to prevent their channels from being used to promote violence, such as what happened in recent days with an advertising that rolled on inappropriate videos on Youtube, which made big brands withdraw from this network. The road is still to be traveled, I hope I have broadened your horizons on the subject.
Text written by Luis Pinto, advisor of TVyVideo+Radio.
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