Last week, we at The Practice looked at some of the apps which have caught our attention recently. But one that we didn’t mention, (which has now become a favourite), is Periscope, Twitter’s new live streaming video app.

Periscope, (bought by Twitter this year for an eye-watering $100 million) allows it users to live-stream videos across the globe from their iPhones, and viewers can interact in real time by commenting or adding heart icons to videos they like. Watching an array of completely different live streams has certainly made for some entertaining viewing. One moment, we were watching some behind the scenes footage of The Telegraph’s canteen, and another moment, we were transported to Brooklyn Bridge to watch the sunrise. The app’s design is clean, with the focus on scrolling through content, while navigation and usability are good too. Icons at the bottom of your home feed easily let you check out the latest broadcasts, a list of users, and how to start your own live stream. We particularly like the location feature shown at the bottom of each video, which charts the user’s movements in real time.

Would we choose Periscope over Meerkat? From both an individual and business perspective, the answer is yes. For starters, Meerkat has just recently been excluded from accessing Twitter’s graph, in which the user’s Twitter contacts can be found and followed on the app. This annoyingly means that users have to create a new follower base and following from scratch, whereas with Periscope, the user is automatically presented with a list of users to follow from his or her Twitter following. There’s also a time lag with Meerkat, which users have experienced when they ask a question and experience a delay in response- with Periscope, communication is instant. For businesses, Periscope easily lets you view and track your videos’ performance, with data on audience retention, the number of viewers, the time watched and for how long, meaning there’s no future guesswork with what to live stream next.

So can we expect individuals and businesses to soon get on board with Periscope as part of their social media marketing strategy? Already, we imagine that it will be a hit with those who wish to share tutorials, demonstrations, and coaching classes, as opposed to just their immediate surroundings. Live talks or speaking events might also become frequent content, especially from B2B companies. Live stream videos from corporate events, shows, conferences, and even general behind the scenes footage can all be incorporated, and posted to Twitter too. As far as individual personalities are concerned, we might soon see a new wave of social media stars emerge, as we saw with Vine, Instagram and YouTube. The fact that the app shows viewers a list of its most popular users in terms of follower count and their heart icon count, means Periscope could soon give way to a popularity contest. Acclaimed broadcasters might even build a niche for themselves for capturing amazing scenery, life events, news stories, demonstrations and tutorials, and much more, just as the biggest stars have done on other social media platforms.

Have you become fans of apps such as Periscope and Meerkat? And how else do you think businesses and individuals can benefit from their features? We’d love to hear your thoughts as always, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.