TORONTO – Let the battle of the live streaming apps begin. Twitter officially launched its live streaming video app Periscope Thursday, following the wild success of fellow live streaming app Meerkat.
Periscope works exactly the same as Meerkat. It allows users to broadcast live footage from their iPhone to whoever wants to watch it. The app also lets users choose to share a link to their broadcast on Twitter and users to auto-follow the same people they do on Twitter.
Twitter acquired Periscope in January – just weeks before Meerkat made its debut.
But no one knew Twitter had purchased Periscope until after Meerkat exploded onto the scene during the South by South West interactive festival.
READ MORE: What is Meerkat? The latest social media craze garnering controversy and funding
Twitter hasn’t been shy about its intention to compete with Meerkat either.
Two weeks ago, Twitter cut off Meerkat’s access to its social graph, which allows users to “auto-follow” the same people they do on Twitter.
While many speculated the move would slow down Meerkat from onboarding new users, the app’s creators claimed its user base grew 30 per cent in the days following the Twitter crackdown, according to reports.
Could Periscope be the nail in the coffin for Meerkat?
While the apps work virtually the same, Periscope does have a few features that stand out.
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Unlike Meerkat, Periscope gives you the option to save streams so you can play them later – a feature many Meerkat users have wished for.
RELATED: Testing Periscope during a live news broadcast
Meerkat has the ability to save a video of your broadcast to your phone – however, many users have experienced problems with the feature prompting complaints.
Periscope also has a leg up thanks to a detail-oriented, easy-to-use interface that has been under development for over a year. Meerkat was built in just eight weeks and developers are still working out the kinks.
Plus, since Periscope is a Twitter-supported app, it will have access to Twitter’s social graph and marketing team.
On the other hand, Meerkat has quickly become a fan favourite – and has even spawned its own verb, “Meerkating.”
Although initial reviews for Periscope are good – and many agree it looks better than Meerkat – not everyone is convinced Twitter has the power to take down Meerkat.
“Meerkat has traction. It has users,” read a review by The Next Web reporter Roberto Baldwin. “Sometimes, being first, even when the app isn’t as polished as a competitor, is enough to keep you ahead of the curve. Even when a rival has the power of a social media giant like Twitter behind it.”
Baldwin pointed out that Slingshot – Facebook’s answer to anonymous messaging app Snapchat – never really took off.
“I’m not quite prepared to say the app is a Meerkat-killer—Meerkat has been growing its user base at 30 percent a day, and it just announced a big new round of investment this morning,” read a review by The Verge.
“But for now at least, Periscope better matches the way that most of us actually use the internet.”
However, both Periscope and Meerkat have one quirk that many users seem to hate.
Neither of the apps allows users to shoot video in landscape mode.
This means when people are watching your stream on the computer the video only takes up about a quarter of the screen.
Periscope is only available for iPhone users right now, but Twitter said an Android version is in the works.
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