Periscope was, in 2015, today’s TikTok, offering young people looking for new sensations a way to express themselves by publishing short videos.
Six years later, Periscope, the service that popularized smartphone streaming, is history. Already gone from app stores, the app is now losing the logistical support it needs to run, with platform administrators shutting down the latest active servers.
But the loss is not total, the innovations brought by Periscope being long taken over by the new owner, Twitter, following a transaction meant only to eliminate the competition. The news of the closure of Periscope has been given by Twitter since December, being justified by the decline in the number of users, which has sent the platform into an “unsustainable state of maintenance” for some time.
The Periscope web version will keep for a while an archive of public broadcasts initiated by users in the last years of the “life” of the platform, the main purpose being to provide the remaining users a way to download their remaining data, using Twitter.
Live Streaming became a real phenomenon over in 2015, with Periscope and rival Meerkat managing to credibly threaten Facebook’s supremacy. But the victory was short-lived, with Meerkat being bought by Facebook and Periscope by rival Twitter. In the end, none remained afloat.
Continuing to develop in the direction taken, Facebook has promoted its own live streaming solution, under the name Facebook Live. Similarly, Twitter added this capability to its own platform, starting in 2016. But none of the platforms managed to reach the expected notoriety, the niche market being finally covered by a newcomer, TikTok.
Robert J. Smith is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including JoyStiq and Android Authority. In regards to academics, Robert earned a degree in business from Fordham University. Robert has passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.
