A Simple Simple Short Shot

Twitter delivers on live streaming video for social media marketing.

Periscope brings new branding opportunities to an established social platform.

The social media world can be a weird place, as exemplified so beautifully by ‘weird twitter’. Twitter is now launching live streaming video to their news feed, powered by Meerkat or Periscope. It gives users the opportunity to share experiences all over the world in real time, in the same way twitter always has, but now with video so users can see the action, not just read about it. But with a demographic that favours those in their 30s, can Twitter afford to get bogged down by more media? Periscope may create a landscape so over overwhelmed by live streaming garbage that users flee from the platform, the same way we see Facebook’s following shift.

Or perhaps this is a new beginning. Periscope’s live streaming videos are a perfect way for brands to engage in stunt advertising on a global scale. Red Bull got on board to highlight their Guest House, with live music and ping pong. Glidden ran a contest that asked people to watch paint dry, but with $3000 on the line they only managed to have about a hundred people tuned in at a time. Other brands are having more success sharing their world in a fun way. Barkbox lets you remotely hang out with their dogs, DKNY took you on a tour of their closet, and Jimmy Fallon gave you an inside look to a monologue rehearsal.

It will be interesting to look back in a few years to see if live streaming was one of those pivotal moments in Twitter’s growth.