Live from your mobile phone, it's either Periscope or
Meerkat. The two video streaming apps are the latest social media sensations to
broadcast real-time video. Turning everyone into an on-the-scene reporter,
Meerkat made its officially debut at SXSW Interactive Festival this month. It
links to your Twitter account for easy sharing to existing followers. Periscope
with the same basic purpose, only it has official Twitter backing. It was
purchased by social media company for a reported $100 million. It's difficult
enough to broadcast with one of these new apps without distraction, so using
both at the same time is out. It's time for our Periscope vs Meerkat
comparison.
Both video
streaming apps let you see through someone else's eyes. This makes them ideal
for large, but distant events, like protests. Of course, for every
critical-viewing event, there are a dozen meaningless salad making or
one-second "Test" live streaming videos for the new services. That's
to be expected. Both Periscope
and Meerkat have launched iOS apps, and Meerkat has Android app as well. Periscope
has the backing of Twitter and Meerkat has solid funding behind it, so there's
an urgency to follow through on this promise.
Meerkat is a
lot busier looking than Periscope. The interface displays the broadcaster's
name, their Twitter handle and viewer count in the top left corner. The city
they're streaming from and the title of their broadcast are in the top right
corner. That's not all. There's also an always-present sliding menu of every
watcher's profile pic. It conveniently brings the broadcaster and viewers
together, streaming-face to still-face. Comments look congested on Meerkat, but
can be more engaging. That's because you can scroll back through the
black-outlined text. On Periscope, comments quickly disappear.
One thing that
people dislike is Meerkat's deeper Twitter integration, which can SPAM your
Twitter page with a bunch of @ replies, as every comment is tweeted. That's not
fun. Periscope has launched with a cleaner interface, which looks great for
capturing live video. But it may be a little too clean for my liking. As a viewer,
there's only an easy-to-miss X in the top corner to close a stream. The viewer
list and broadcaster information are hidden within a menu access via a left
swipe. Comments and viewer count are tucked away at the bottom, and comments
disappear after a few short seconds.Hearts can be "given" to a
Periscope broadcaster when a viewer taps the screen. It seems meaningless, but
it's a really helpful way to instantly tell the host that you like what you
see.
The biggest
advantage to Periscope is that you can archive clips for viewing them on the
web. This isn't completely automatic. Meerkat did give me the option to save my
broadcast to my phone, but it doesn't support sharing these clips within the
app beyond the live stream. I expect this to change. For now, though, Meerkat
is a bit like Snapchat. Video of your broadcast is unlikely to get out there,
but it's still possible for other people to capture it nefariously. Meerkat
does let you schedule broadcasts, which is very helpful for fans finding
broadcasters and broadcasters reaching new fans. It's easier to build an
audience. It also lets you use the iPhone's flash to light dark videos.
Video quality
on Meerkat and Periscope greatly depend on your connection. With so many videos
taken on the road, it's obvious that networks are not ready to live streaming
the masses. This is further complicated by dropped frames (and audio) when
switching between front and back cameras on both apps, as all talking heads
like to do. Both apps are guilty of this. Periscope also had the distinct
problem of hiding battery life and WiFi connection icons at the top of my
iPhone. I found it hard to tell when I switched from WiFi to LTE unless viewers
asked me if that just happened. Periscope looks a little more refined, and so
far its early adopters are less annoying.
Today's Periscope vs Meerkat comparison reminds me of
2013's Vine vs Instagram launch. Both services ushered in short-form video
capturing apps with back-to-back launches. These are two very experimental apps
that will likely be tweaked based on user feedback. Periscope, for example, has
already toned down the mass notifications it sends. It'd be nice for Meerkat is
get a cleaner interface and Periscope to figure out a way to keep comments
longer without cluttering the screen space.
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