Periscope is an application that allows you to film and broadcast live videos, “streams”. It is also a full-fledged social network, with followers and the ability to subscribe to other users.
How to start
The app can be downloaded for free from the Appstore or Google Play. She suggests creating an account linked to Twitter. The goal: to make notifications appear when the user shoots videos on Periscope.
The main menu offers four icons: a mini TV, a globe, a camera and a snowman. The first is to monitor the people you follow and notify them when they are live, or if they recorded a video less than 24 hours before.
By selecting the globe, a list or map of connected subscribers around the world is displayed. You just have to tap on an area to see the “live” of a region appear. A second tap, and the video opens. The last two icons are used to film live, to manage subscriptions and profile.
What can we find on Periscope?
To see an interest in it, you must quickly know how to disentangle the wheat from the chaff. Anyone can improvise as a reporter, but many prefer to become the hero of their own reality show. Thus, the reports on the clashes of the Place de la Nation, in Paris, alongside the last song of an amateur artist. Stars can also use Periscope for informal press conferences, where they respond to their fans.
Better to skip the general thread, which is generally uninteresting, to use the search tool right away. You can easily find people or organizations that you already follow on Twitter, such as the media or museums, to build a list of subscribers. When one of them launches a video, a notification notifies the user (unless it is disabled in the phone settings). It is then possible to interact live.
To create your own stream
The broadcast window opens by tapping on the camera in the main menu. The application immediately suggests giving a name to the future video. All you have to do is start “start broadcasting” to film. The stream then appears in the general Periscope thread, with the mention “Live”. By default, anyone can attend.
Four new icons provide the ability to change settings. With the padlock, it is possible to restrict the distribution of the video. The bubble allows you to select the people authorized to comment, the arrow concerns geolocation and the bird makes the link with Twitter.
Once online, a video can be viewed in replay for 24 hours, unless this option is removed. It is not recordable by a third party.
