The Latest Updates in Live Video Streaming

The world of social streaming video is booming! Catch up on the latest updates from Periscope, Meerkat, and newcomer Blab.im

In July we wrote about the exciting new entrants into the world of streaming video: Meerkat & Periscope (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3). At the time, they’d been on the market for less than 6 months, and we're already having a big impact in the livestreaming social video market.

Since then, each app has gone through a series of updates, bringing with them a surge of great new features. This month we’re revisiting Meerkat & Periscope to bring you the latest updates and look at ways you can use them in your social strategy.

Bonus: We’ll also be taking a quick look at Blab.im, the quickly growing powerhouse for live streaming video conversation!

Periscope

Official site: https://www.periscope.tv/

A slightly lighter update for this round, but some very solid improvements from Periscope. In addition to general bug fixes and polish work, they’ve added in a few features that can make a substantial difference in how you approach using it in your social strategy.

Top Changes:

Landscape! - Say goodbye to vertical video syndrome, you can now stream in vertical or landscape video mode.
Facebook Integration - You can now share a link to your live broadcast, or replay onto your Facebook feed.
Accessibility - Better support for VoiceOver users means more of your users can interact with your stream than ever before.

Opportunities:

Showcase the Bigger Picture - Take advantage of Landscape mode streaming to showcase all of the great views that were previously difficult to capture.
Share to New Audiences - Have a fantastic stream that you want more people to see? Make sure to post the link onto Facebook! While your Facebook audience might not be current users of Periscope, the more great content you’re producing over there, the more likely they are to follow you there too!

Verdict: A solid round of updates, with a couple of much needed new features.

Meerkat

Official site: http://meerkatapp.co.nz

Meerkat is going for the gold with their steady stream of high impact, feature rich updates!

Top Changes:

Cameo - Allow a viewer to take over your stream for 60 seconds.
Polls! - You can now poll viewers watching your stream with simple Yes/No questions.
Show & Tell - Show your viewers a picture from your camera roll, w/o leaving the stream.
GoPro Integration - Connect your GoPro 3 and stream directly into Meerkat.
Better Social Sharing - Share your upcoming streams to Instagram, Facebook & Tumblr.

Opportunities:

Special Guest - Invite a special expert guest to join your stream.
Instant Feedback - Using the Polling feature to ask a quick Yes/No question and get immediate feedback from your viewers!
Take Your Viewers on an Adventure - The GoPro integration offers a great new opportunity for sharing on-the-go action and adventure.

Verdict: Meerkat is going hard on frequent, feature rich updates and it’s making a huge difference.

Blab.im

Official site: http://blab.im

A recent entrant to the livestreaming space, Blab.im is making huge waves in the live interview and hangout space.

Features:

4 Person Conversation - Invite up to 3 other guests into your video stream.
Scheduled Streaming - Plan your broadcast in advance.
Easy Web Viewing - Your viewers don’t need to have the app installed to participate in the chat.
Recording - Want to share your conversation after the fact? Record it and share!

Opportunities:

Interviews - Invite great special guests to talk about a given topic.
Friendly Conversation - Invite viewers into the stream for a guest spot of friendly conversation.

Verdict: Great new addition with a very specific focus on shared conversation. Fantastic Google Hangouts replacement.

In Closing

The world of social streaming video is booming! With new apps, great new features, and new ways of connecting via video appearing every day, it’s important to consider these tools as another opportunity for creating great content.