Live Streaming, The New Language To Communicate

Spurred by new-age apps and hardware, live video broadcasting has become the new language to communicate.

- Nidhi Singal

We often watch live broadcasts of events, concerts and shows. How about broadcasting your views to your followers or even the masses? If you are interested, there are a host of apps and services that allow live streaming of content to interact with the audience in real time – you can not only become popular among your target audience, but may also start generating revenue as you grab more eyeballs.

Live streaming has existed for over a decade with platforms, including Ustream and Twitch, but it is the new-age apps with a mobile-first approach, such as Meerkat and Periscope, that are making video broadcasting the next inflection point in the digital and social media space. While professional live streaming events were aired with broadcast quality cameras and equipment connecting to real-range satellite uplink transmitters, the new-age apps are enabling smartphone users with a decent bandwidth to stream HD, full HD or 4k content.

However, none of these services worked on 2G and you should not even think of streaming on 2G. While most of them worked on 3G, the upload and video streaming was seamless on high-speed Wi-Fi or 4G connectivity. Of all the video broadcasting apps, Periscope works the best.

Broadcast with Apps Periscope, acquired by Twitter last year, took the world by storm. It allows you to live stream your video even on Twitter and lets you “explore the world through someone else’s eyes”. It’s easy to use – click to start live streaming, share with friends and upload on YouTube. Twitter followers are notified when the content goes live, and lets them post comments and send emoticons. From streaming a fun moment with friends and voicing an opinion, to marching for a cause and citizen journalism, Periscope helps you reach out to a wider audience. Once the live steam ends, it can be replayed for 24 hours.