riscope was a live-streaming app and social media platform that allowed users to broadcast live video from their mobile devices to a global audience. It was founded by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein and launched in March 2015. Periscope gained popularity quickly due to its innovative live-streaming capabilities. However, it’s important to note that as of my last knowledge update in September 2021, Periscope had been discontinued. Here are some key features and functions of Periscope when it was active:
- Live Streaming: Periscope allowed users to start live broadcasts from their smartphones or tablets. Viewers from around the world could tune in to watch these live streams in real-time.
- Interactivity: Viewers could interact with broadcasters during live streams by sending comments and hearts (likes). Broadcasters could respond to viewer comments and questions in real-time.
- Replays: After a live broadcast ended, Periscope automatically saved the video as a replay, allowing users who missed the live stream to watch it later for up to 24 hours.
- Map-Based Discovery: Periscope featured a map view that allowed users to discover live broadcasts happening in various locations around the world. This feature helped users find interesting live content from different places.
- Followers and Following: Users could follow other Periscope users to receive notifications when they went live. Similarly, users could gain followers and build an audience for their own broadcasts.
- Privacy Controls: Users had options to set their broadcasts as public, private (only visible to selected followers), or restricted to specific viewers.
- Cross-Platform Sharing: Periscope allowed users to share their live broadcasts and replays on other social media platforms, such as Twitter.
- Broadcast Analytics: Broadcasters could access analytics to see how many viewers they had, the duration of viewing, and other engagement metrics.
It’s important to emphasize that Twitter acquired Periscope in early 2015, and Periscope broadcasts were tightly integrated with Twitter. Users could share live streams directly on their Twitter feeds, and Twitter users could watch Periscope broadcasts within the Twitter app.
However, in December 2020, Twitter announced that it would be discontinuing Periscope as a separate app due to declining usage and would be integrating its live-streaming functionality directly into the Twitter platform. As a result, Periscope was officially shut down in March 2021.
If you are interested in live-streaming or broadcasting on social media, you may want to explore other platforms and apps that offer similar capabilities, such as Twitter Live, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, or newer live-streaming apps that have emerged since my last update.