Its safe to say not since the inception of Vine and Instagram have we seen a app such as Periscope generate so much buzz in just a short time of existence. Everyone, including myself is using Periscope, people are streaming everything from cats sleeping on couches to drones flying in a public parks
Speaking of which, for those who don't know what Periscope is,its a minimal feature mobile app that is owned and operated by Twitter. It's main core function is to instantly video stream your daily events or your surrounding environment in real time. If Periscope participants aren't streaming, users can also view video streams from other Periscope users. No matter if they'er in Japan or the Antarctica ( provided there is Internet connection) you will be able to view it via video stream live .
See the cute little lame looking hearts?
As you're viewing live stream videos, you can send a message as the video feed is posting and the person who's streaming the video will communicate to the viewers as he or she is responds to a series of pop up messages.If you like the video stream, just tap the display and series of cute looking hearts will popup in succession giving an indication to the streamer that you like what you see.The application works in unison with Twitter, so if you don't have a Twitter account,I suggest you create a Twitter account because it's the only way you can use Periscope.
Since using this app for the past 48 hours, I have some opinions of Periscope that's both positive and negative in a form of Pros and Cons. First we have...
See the series of messages? I mean cool right?
The Pros..
The app itself is very easy to use,and its also can very addicting which by the way is a good thing. It has a clean simplified Interface that is not flooded with a lot of unneeded features. Love seeing the constant popup messages that takes place in real time, crafty. Also love how you can gain access to the daily lives of others, Periscope is definitely a great tool for communicating with others around the world. Then we have the...
The Cons..
Periscope is fairly new, in fact it was just released a few days ago,therefore expect a little bit of kinks and wrinkles that can use a bit of ironing out. In my case the kinks and wrinkles were glaringly noticeable. The load time on some of these video streams aren't rapid which is expected when streaming video on mobile devices, you also have to factor in mobile connection with some Periscope users might not perfect due to a slow mobile network. Speaking of Mobile connection, if you plan on constantly using Periscope for an extended period of time, my suggestion is to keep your mobile device on standby charge and limit using your LTE connection and switch to WiFi as this app uses a enormous amount of data.
Look closely you'll see it load and load and yes load
One other alarming issue with Periscope I found was the app goes into freeze mode when I go to pull up a stream. I often had to close out the app and restart it again, repeatedly.
With a little splash of updates though I'm sure Twitter will institute a series of fixes for the mentioned issues above.
In all..
With some concerning issues and all,I still like the fun aspect of Periscope. Viewing what others are doing around the world is what makes this app so unique. There is a ton of potential with Periscope, there are many ways you can use this app. For an example, news organizations can use Periscope on location during a tragic event. Or if enjoy a live stream of a cat sleeping on a couch you will most certainly will view plenty of that on Periscope. Catch the Periscope wave, give the app a shot. If you want follow my daily life on Periscope, just add my Twitter handle which is @Tekspecz, maybe you'll get a glimpse of my daily life and yes,see my cat sleeping on the couch.
Periscope is free and currently only on the iOS platform.