Live Video Platforms: What’s New?
Communication is evolving and it’s going live.
Ever since the dawn of social media, people have been making the somewhat bold prediction that “words are out”. First, the logic goes, we shorten what we say (in the form of Tweets, texts or pithy blogs), then we begin to shift to non-textual forms of communication (emoji or gifs), and finally our primary medium of communicating information shifts from words altogether to formats like live video. According to these predictions, reading is simply too much hard work for heavy internet users who are consuming content all day long.
In Living Color
While this viewpoint might seem extreme, it’s significant that some of the internet’s most powerful players are believers in it. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, recently predicted that text was on the decline in remarks he made on Facebook Live. “You know, if you go back to the internet ten years ago, most of what we shared online was text. … Since then, now we all have phones, or most of us do, that have cameras. So we take a lot of photos. And now as our internet and networks are getting better, we can start to support more video. Right? We can upload videos, we can do this live like we’re doing here. And that is just making this experience richer and richer, and you’re getting a better sense of what people are experiencing and feeling around the world. And it’s just really powerful.”
In many ways, it seems like Zuckerberg might be onto something. Indeed, every major social media platform is cropping up with live video platforms at the moment. The most recent is Tumblr, who announced their entry into the market this week in a clever and somewhat unexpected way (more on that below). While many tech insiders guess that Tumblr has made this move to counter its declining usership and even lower esteem among tech giants in the valley, their entry into the live video only furthers the hypothesis that this is the next big way to communicate.
Lights, Camera, Action
However, there’s no telling as to whether or not video is the end of the line, or if it will soon be replaced by something even more immersive and shareable, like VR. And it’s also important to remember that the written word has, thus far at least, withstood the test of time. The simplicity of words—anyone can write them, with virtually no equipment or technical ability, and share as they wish—is hard to compete with when it comes to other mediums. Only time will tell, but in the meantime here is a look at the major live video formats currently online.
Periscope
The first player on the scene, Periscope is Twitter’s version of live video streaming and has the distinction of converting many early adopters. In the face of growing competition over the past few months, its usership has remained stable.
Amazon Twitch
Known initially for live streaming video games, Twitch acquired a more mass market appeal when it was acquired by Amazon in 2014. It was a surprise move for the ecommerce company and signaled their move to become more of a platform rather than just a shopping site.
Facebook Live
Many saw the rollout of Facebook live as a direct competitive threat to Twitter’s Periscope. The service has been massively promoted by the social network as a way to make sharing even more immersive and immediate.
Tumblr Live
Rumors of Tumblr’s entrance to the live video streaming game proliferated on the internet a few days before the announcement, but few anticipated the way the company would roll it out. As TheNextWeb reported: “Instead of wasting time and money on its own live-streaming technology, Tumblr is simply integrating existing live video solutions. To start, the platform is launching support via YouTube, YouNow, Kanvas and Upclose.” It notably left out the competitors listed above.