Periscope has become “so” fashionable that some sports sections of the news media no longer record or broadcast but ” make a periscope .” In this article we try to approach this phenomenon in the form of an application, owned by Twitter, that allows us to record and broadcast live video.
Although the original idea dates back to 2013, the applications were not available until March 2015 for iPhone and since May for Android . These applications allowed to record video and share it in real time and its success was immediate, in August 2015 it reached ten million users and Apple chose it as the best application of the year 2015, since then it has not stopped growing.
Not only does it allow live streaming of video, but with its distinctly social perspective it allows viewers of the broadcast to interact with it, either with messages or by indicating that they like it with a heart. These same users if they become followers will be able to receive notifications when we issue or follow our transmissions from the links that we publish on Twitter .
Installing and getting started with Periscope
The steps to start transmitting live video and how to publish the link to the transmission from Twitter are very simple and begin with the installation and configuration of the application. Once the application is installed and after some informative welcome screens, it will show us the screen to start the session on Twitter (although we can also register with our phone number), after it it will ask for a username and a name to display, made These quick steps we will be able to start broadcasting our own recordings , we are already an online television station!
To record, it will request permissions (in Android prior to 6 and in iOS it will have done so at the time of installation) to access the camera, storage and microphone to transmit, and in the event that we want the transmission to be geolocated will request access to the location of the equipment.
At the top of your mobile screen, four icons are shown that allow us to see recent views and broadcasts, see Periscope broadcasts that are currently being carried out in a geographical area, an index with current broadcasts ordered by number of followers and a menu of users that allows us to access current trends and featured users, we also found a search engine that shows featured users and trends; We also have an icon that allows us to search for people and, of course, the icon that allows us to access the screen for recording and broadcasting videos.
The red icon of a camera, located at the foot of the recording page, allows us to start a broadcast. When we click on it, we may or may not put a title on the transmission, choose whether it will be geolocated, whether it will be published on Twitter and whether we allow viewing to all users on the network or only those whom we follow. It also allows establishing if the recording will be public and private. recording. Once we begin the broadcast, viewers can send us messages or give their approval through hearts. Private broadcasts are not shown in the Global section and only those you choose are notified .
How it shows on Twitter
When starting a recording in which we have selected the notification via Twitter , a Tweet is created where the user who is broadcasting appears, the situation of the video and the people who are currently viewing the video broadcast live.
Alternatives to Periscope: Facebook Live video
Although there are alternatives to Periscope independent of large social networks such as Merkaat available for iOS and Android , the truth is that it is the possibility of broadcasting live video from Facebook, with its possibility of permanent availability on the user’s wall (the videos saved in Periscope is erased after 24 hours.) And the interaction of friends or followers through the different reaction modes that really threatens Periscope, but we will cover this in future articles.
