Did you think the biggest social network on the planet was just going to sit idly by while the likes of Meerkat and Periscope find success in live, social video? Facebook won’t stand for it. So it’s launching its own contribution to the live streaming mix, but the catch is only cool people can use it.
Facebook is building live streaming video right into Mentions, an iPhone app for people with verified Facebook Pages to help connect with their audience. That means if you want to post a live streaming video to Facebook, you must be a public figure or brand with a verified Page using the Mentions app.
The videos will post to the News Feed, where fans of that Page can watch and interact with comments. Once the broadcast is done, it saves as a regular video to the Page for newcomers to watch and share later on. This is unique to Facebook – Periscope and Meerkat’s videos don’t save permanently for re-watching. Creators have the option to the delete their recorded videos on Facebook, too.
It seems Facebook noticed how Periscope was able to harness star power from the likes of Ellen DeGeneres to boost its popularity pretty quickly. Facebook’s biggest advantages are more stars and far more users, which makes the platform better for promotion.
“Public figures already have fans on Facebook that they share to every single day,” Facebook Live’s product manager Vadim Lavrusik told TechCrunch. “We actually got feedback from public figures wanting to do live video even before we launched Mentions.”
It doesn’t seem like a huge stretch for Facebook to eventually turn on live streaming for every user, but for now it’s sensible to kickstart the new feature with a few celebrity endorsements. In its blog post, Facebook mentioned live broadcasts are coming soon from Luke Bryan, Ashley Tisdale, Martha Stewart, Michael Bublé and more.
George Tinari has covered Apple and technology for over six years. On the rare occasion that he’s not sitting in front of his laptop, you can find him eating, awkwardly socializing, listening to music or singing along loudly to said music. You can also follow George on Twitter if you need more complaints and sarcasm in your timeline.
3 responses to “Facebook’s Periscope clone is only for beautiful people”
I don’t get any of this “live video stuff…I’ll say the emperor has no clothes! It reminds me of Twitter where on the surface it seems cool but in the end no one knows what to do with it…including how to make money.
I don’t know how other people use Twitter, but for some reason there’s a big Star Wars fan community on there, so as a fan I use it primarily to talk to other fans and keep up with Star Wars news. And general real world news, too, since it usually hits Twitter before it gets anywhere else.
The other day there was a fire near my boyfriend’s work, so he and his coworkers went outside, and he Periscoped it. The link to watch it went straight to his Twitter, and could be viewed later as a recording. I could see how that could be really useful, especially if they add more options.
I can see why Apple is jumping on board with the celebrity version of it, though. The coolest stuff I’ve seen on Periscope was when Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins would use it to livestream the entire soundcheck before each show during one leg of a recent tour. During the same tour, occasionally I’d get a surprise notification that he was broadcasting on Periscope, and when I tuned in it would be him and other people backstage, including bandmate Jimmy Chamberlain, joking about their vegan food. Or in the car on the way to another town, just joking around.
It feels kind of personal to watch Periscope videos, but in a nice way, like getting a one-way phone call. I have to admit it’s really enjoyable if the “call” is from someone who doesn’t know you exist and would never call you in real life. Simple pleasures. :)
Just in case you needed one, yet another reason not to be involved with Facebook.