I
personally thought the latest thing to come out of SXSW (South by South West)
2015 on Monday March 16th 2015 was going to be the AeroMobil Hybrid
Car-Plane as predicted in my blog
article entitled “@aeromobil
Hybrid Car-Plane prototype - How Mind Controlled Autonomous Flying-Vehicles
will Revolutionize Road Trips in the Future”.
Boy
was I wrong.
It
now seems that the instant Live streaming App Meerkat
was the toast of the festival, mainly because of Twitter's rejection of the app
in favour of its own Periscope as noted
in the article “Meerkat
boss upbeat despite Twitter clampdown”, published March 16, 2015 By Trevor
Mogg, DigitalTrends.
 |
Meerkat
was launched exclusively for Apple iOS in late February 2015 before made its
debut at SXSW in Austin Texas as noted in the article “Meerkat app shows
the potential for live streaming on Twitter”, published MAR 02, 2015 BY
SETH FIEGERMAN, Mashable.
It’s
a Live Video Streaming app that allows you to stream to an anonymous audience
in real time as explained by Meerkat
CEO Ben Rubin in the article “What is Meerkat?
Founder explains most-discussed app of SXSW”, published Mar 16, 2015 BY
PHIL NOLAN, Mashable.
It's
tied into the Twitter Social Graph, a concept similar to Facebook Graph that
taps into information within Twitter’s API to allow Third-party apps to connect
with users using statistical data generated by Twitter users.
In
the case of Meerkat,
that means you'd get an instant notification of a Meerkat
Live stream from ANYONE who has the Meerkat
app installed once you were following the Meerkat Twitter feed, whether or not
that persons was also following the Meerkat
Twitter feed. They only need to be on Twitter
following your Twitter Feed.
Meerkatters
(yes, that’s a word) could also alert their twitter followers by posting tweets
indicating that they were streaming live or receive a notification via the Meerkat
app that they were streaming live.
Unfortunately,
this over-dependence on Twitter proved to be the Meerkat
demise at the hands of none other than Twitter.
SXSW Meerkat vs
Twitter’s Periscope – How Periscope submarine like launch sunk the Meerkat
Destroyer
Twitter
got jealous and scuppered Meerkat’s
Twitter Social Graph integration, citing internal regulations as noted in the
article “Twitter
limits access of fast-growing Meerkat live-stream app”, published March 14,
2015 7:51 AM PDT by Richard Nieva, CNET News.
 |
Meerkat
CEO and sole developer Ben Rubin took the rejection of his app on Friday March
13th 2015 with an upbeat tone at SXSW, indicating that his one man
company was now significant as noted in the article “Twitter
cuts Meerkat off from its social graph just as SXSW gets started”,
published March 13, 2015 11:14 By Dieter Bohn, The Verge.
This
as even on that very same day, Twitter announced the acquisition of Periscope as noted in the article “Twitter
embraces livestreaming, confirms Periscope purchase”, published March 14,
2015 By Trevor Mogg, DigitalTrends,
a similar Live streaming App also announced by VP of Product at Twitter , Kevin
Weill in his tweet.
Excited to
officially welcome @periscopeco to
the Twitter team. Can't wait for everyone to see what they've
built! https://t.co/6eAJjpXmaS
—
Kevin Weil (@kevinweil) March
13, 2015
Periscope sinks Meerkat
– Over Dependence on Twitter and lackluster features as Google Android is Hope
Meerkat is now sinking, based on the decline in
Twitter activity as Periscope’s
Submarine Conning tower rises out of the waves as noted in Analyst Topy’s Graph
in the article “Meerkat,
Periscope, and Hope”, published April 1st, 2015 by STEVE WILDSTROM, Techopinions.
 |
Still,
Meerkat’s initial draw is still potent, despite Periscope doing its live streaming much
better as noted in the article “Here's
why Meerkat's popularity is suddenly plunging”, published April 1, 2015
11:01 am by Ben Popper, The Verge.
Good
to note that BOTH Meerkat and Periscope will RAPIDLY eat through your
Data Plans, so don’t expect any Jamaicans to be trying this App unless they
have Wi-Fi as noted in the article “Livestreaming Apps
Will Totally Crush Your Data Plan”, published 02.04.2015 by John Patrick
Pullen, TIME and “Meerkat
and Periscope Can Really Chew Through Your Precious Data”, published
3/31/15 by Kate Knibbs, Gizmodo.
Your
avatar posts on Meerkat are actually tweets albeit
Meerkat really needs to have an option for later
non-live viewing to avoid looking like a SnapChat Clone as noted in the review “Meerkat for iOS review”,
published April 2, 2015 By: Jason Parker, CNET
News.
Meerkat's dependence on Twitter mean that once you
open your Meerkat
app, if no one you know is streaming, then you won't see any live stream to
select. This could be because of the decoupling of the Twitter Social Graph with
Periscope is thoroughly plugged into.
So
Meerkat, thanks for introducing us to
Live-Streaming, but Twitter's Periscope
submarine-like launch has sunk the Meerkat Destroyer.
Hopefully when the Google Android version
comes out, everyone can experience the world through the lens of someone else’s
smartphone and give Meerkat a helping hand.
Here's
the link:
Meerkat Twitter Feed: @AppMeerkat
Periscope Twitter Feed: @periscopeco
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