How-Tu Tuesday: Choose Between Periscope and Meerkat

As the digital world develops and evolves, people are demanding more of social media and what they can access. People are inquisitive (or nosy, depending on how you look at it) and social media plays into this. Whether it be the lives of celebrities, the behind the scenes action of a brand’s campaign or an insight into what friends and family are doing – people want to know more.

This demand to know more has been met with the launch of Periscope and Meerkat which are two of the newest and most popular social media platforms to hit our iOS devices (not yet available on Android). Both platforms are designed for live streaming and are very similar in that they both allow users to broadcast to anyone in the world (with a Wi-Fi or cellular connection) what they are doing right at that moment.

Periscope is owned by Twitter whilst Meerkat is a relatively new start up, debuting earlier this year. Both platforms are in direct competition with each other and many users are unsure as to which one they should sign up to. Periscope, Meerkat, Periscope, Meerkat, Periscope, Meerkat…

Although they share the same purpose, both apps vary when it comes to certain functionalities, features and looks. We don’t take sides here at Tuminds but by reading the points below you can decide whether you would choose Meerkat or Periscope to broadcast your life live to the world!

Interface

Periscope: traditional social media layout with a menu bar, multiple tabs running along the bottom of the screen and profile view in the upper right-hand corner which allows users to add an avatar and description of themselves.

Meerkat: the live streams are the main focus with no menu bar or option to add a profile photo or description – it’s simply about watching live streams or starting a stream yourself.

Broadcasts

Periscope: allows viewers to replay streams for up to 24 hours after they have been filmed, although users can delete recordings if they don’t want their stream to be replayed. Users are provided with the option to publish their live stream on Twitter, make them private or hide their location.

Meerkat: users are able to schedule broadcasts for a later date but streams cannot be replayed. Auto-tweets are linked to live streams, which informs the user’s Twitter followers when they are live streaming – this is automatic with no choice to opt-out.

Discovery

Periscope: displays everyone the user is following on Twitter under the “People” tab and users can also be searched by name.

Meerkat: only allows users to find people by searching for their name or browsing the leaderboard.

Interact

Periscope: users can comment throughout both their own and other users’ live stream, but all comments are kept within the app and are not published on Twitter. As well as commenting, users can show their appreciation for a live stream by sending hearts to the user.

Meerkat: users can comment on and “like” live streams, with comments also being posted to Twitter as @replies.

Notifications

Both apps have very similar notification settings. On Periscope users can opt out of notifications for new followers but the only way to stop notifications on both apps is to turn off push notifications entirely, meaning users will never receive alerts. So at the moment you either have to be prepared for a lot of notifications whenever someone you are following starts to stream or you need to check your app continuously for new updates.

Hopefully after reading the various points you are able to make your mind up between Periscope and Meerkat. However, if you feel live streaming isn’t for you then you may be interested in some of the other video based social media platforms, like Instagram and Vine, which we will discuss in our next blog post.