Periscope: An App to Watch

"Just over a year ago, we became fascinated by the idea of discovering the world through someone else's eyes. What if you could see through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine? Or watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia? It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation. While there are many ways to discover events and places, we realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around." -Kayvon & Joe, Co-founders

What if I told you there was an application that takes Facetime, Skype, and Google Hangouts one step further? Not only does it enable content to be shared real-time, but it allows thousands of viewers to tune in at the exact same moment. This app is called Periscope, and it has become a hot topic of discussion in the technology industry since its purchase by Twitter for $100M in March. The app allows iOS and Android users to live stream their activities and surroundings, and enables users to follow along instantaneously and share commentary. Last month, Periscope created a blog post sharing the app had impressively achieved over 10 million users, and that each day users are viewing over 40 years of live broadcasts.

These stats have exceeded many market analysts' less-than-optimistic expectations, partly due to celebrities and politicians lining up to get their hands on it. Thanks to this, users have now been able to follow live world news directly from their news feeds, and get exclusive looks inside influencers' everyday lives and projects.

In a period of just 4 months according to a blog post by Periscope, Jimmy Fallon brought users backstage of his set of The Tonight Show, the US Department of the Interior took viewers on a live tour of the National Mall, users tuned in to President Obama boarding Marine One, Aaron Paul showed us a live acoustic performance straight from his living room, jurors announced the Pao vs. Kleiner Perkins decision, and users got to explore spectacles of Bora Bora, New Zealand, and Glacier National Park - all through the application.

It's debatable whether Periscope will continue to take off, but its introduction has undeniably created a buzz. It will be interesting to watch Periscope's growth from this point forward, and how it continues to shape the way viewers use social media to see the world.

#Periscope #livestream