Meerkat vs Periscope

I wrote about a new app called Meerkat a couple weeks ago, and discussed how annoying it’s gotten recently. At the same time Meerkat launched, Twitter was testing it’s own live video streaming app called Periscope. I’m sure it rushed its launch due to Meerkat, and this weekend, the Periscope app was among the top apps downloaded in both the iTunes and Google Play stores.

I’ve been using Meerkat for a couple weeks now, and just started exploring Periscope this weekend. Here’s a quick rundown of what appears to be the difference between the two.

First, even though Periscope was developed by Twitter, Meerkat seems to have ten times more & better Twitter integration. When you start a stream on Meerkat, it posts a message and link to the stream on Twitter. In addition, Meerkat uses their Twitter account to alert users of potentially popular streams (like Jimmy Fallon or other stars). Also, all communication that takes place within Meerkat posts to Twitter. Whereas, all communication within Periscope seems to stay within Periscope, but you can post an announcement of a stream to Twitter.

Broadcasting to both is easy, and both allow you to save your video for later viewing. While Meerkat allows you to save the video to your device for your own viewing, Periscope allows you to save it to the cloud to be viewed later by your friends/followers. A third party service, “Katch” allows you to capture any Meerkat stream on YouTube… just type “#katch” into Twitter during the stream.

The next most obvious thing to most users is the user base and audience. Most Meerkat users appear to be social media geeks/experts who attended SXSW and got caught up in the buzz around Meerkat. It’s a combination of “social media experts” who post streams of themselves talking about social media or the randomness of their lives. A few big names and brands seem to have gotten caught up in the Meerkat hype, including Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and (tonight) Saturday Night Live (SNL). In general, the user seems to be 20-45 year old professional social media folks. By contrast, the Periscope user seems to be the same as the Snapchat audience… much younger (mostly preteens to early 20’s), and much more random in what they share. They seem to crave “hearts” (Periscope’s version of “likes”) and will do just about anything to get them – from making up titillating names for streams to twerking for the semi-anonymous audience. In general, the Periscope audience is more high school sleepover/college freshman at the club random craziness and Meerkat is the attention-starved young professional set.

It’s nice to see streaming video finally get its day. While UStream, Twitvid, and other similar services have been available for years, I’m glad people have finally started adopting streaming video on mobile. However, if you get sucked into watch any of the video on either service, you may not be glad to see streaming video get mass adoption. It’s still in its infancy, so you’ve got a lot of people who don’t know how to use it (and in many cases – especially with Periscope – it reminds me of Chat Roulette).

I hope the popularity of both services will usher in a new era of streaming live events and activities we would not have otherwise have had access to.  I remember when I discovered the power of Twitter, and I hope a similar day will soon come for one of these services. In the meantime, I’m happy I can virtually attend conferences, sporting events, and speeches I would not have otherwise have had access to.