Periscope (by Twitter) went live to the general public very early this morning and the impact that this tool and this technology has changed forever how we will learn and communicate.
Brief overview of basics of what Periscope is and does:
- Allows the user to send live video feeds with audio from an iPhone.
- The ability to save the video feeds to your camera roll or let them expire in 24 hours
- Cost: Free
- Viewers of your feed can share their comments directly with you live, in real-time as you are filming.
- You have followers and follow others just like Twitter
- The integration with Twitter remains to play out.
So why the bold headline? As I started watching the very early streams coming across within the first hour of going live, the realization of the massive changes that this technology might have started coming across.
Why will news organizations need to have field reporters? Anyone at the scene of any event can and will be broadcasting the events unfolding live to the world from multiple vantage points. Those fancy news vans with the big dishes on top will be ancient history very rapidly.
Conferences and conventions will now be broadcast live from the audience. The days of having to pay to watch an event streamed over the web are also numbered.
Streaming world events as they unfold will now be live, un-filtered and raw. The editing that goes on in the editing rooms of either side of a political viewpoint (CNN or Fox) will not happen as there is no editing of the raw footage.
The impact blogs and the internet have had on the newspaper industry will be replicated in the TV industry very rapidly. You want to watch reality TV? We can only imagine what will now be available to view.
No one is sure whether it is Periscope, or Meerkat, or some other technology that will become the dominant player. Rest assured that there will be one, and that it will be a powerful force in our society.
Remember that Periscope is an Apple only option now, but give it six months and Twitter’s money and manpower and you Android and Windows users should be able to play as well.
Finding Periscope in the Apple Store is a bit difficult until the indexing has caught up so click here from your iPhone and download it now.
I’m already seeing leading edge thinkers like Daniel Newman, Carlos Gill, Eric T. Tung, Gave Villamizar, Koka Sexton and many others already in my feed.
I recommend turning off notifications after you have been playing with it for a day or so, the volume is already starting to explode.
Jump in, follow me @milesaustin and let me know what you think.
