There is a certain amount of Darwinism that applies to social media, have you noticed?. Technology will always be changing, so social networking will always be evolving in response. If your gig is web project management that is exciting news, because it means you can afford to be a forward thinker.
When tweets got old, forward thinkers introduced video presentations to the mix. When video became stale, infographs were all the rage. Now, even the nifty stories with pictures are getting old, so what’s next? Live streaming video pleasure and I mean that strictly from a marketing standpoint. Meet Meerkat – the next evolutionary step for social media.
What’s a Meerkat?
The South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas has served as a launch pad for many successful companies. In 2007, Twitter made an appearance at SXSW that put it on the map. Go getters tend to watch this conference to see what’s coming next. This year what they saw was Meerkat.
Meerkat CEO Ben Rubin explains that their mission was to make an app able to stream live video with the speed of a tweet. Live streaming can be inherently sluggish and almost painful to watch. Meerkat designers wanted something more responsive, and if you believe the experts from SXSW, it works.
Meerkat uses the Twitter platform to allow you to tweet live video. Let’s put that into perspective for a minute. If you currently want to do a video, you must record it, upload it to a host platform and then send it out via social media.
With Meerkat, the process becomes seamless like a video call, because it is all done in real time. You press a button on your phone or tablet display and boom, all your Twitter followers see you live and in person.
The Perks of Meerkat
If you do it, they see it. The implications for marketing agencies are good in this respect. Imagine walking around a public place like a store or conference getting testimonials about a product launch. How about real time interviews with designers or creative staff? Can you say free celebrity endorsement?
The Cons of Meerkat
If you do it, they see it. If you pick your nose, guess what? The other downside is Meerkat only works in real time. There are no reruns, available, so if key players miss the stream, it’s gone forever. Meerkat does send out a notification that you are getting ready to stream, but only to people who have the app.
This concept isn’t exactly new; Ustream has been available for business use since 2007. Ustream was a little too much forward thinking at the time, though. Back in 2007, social media hadn’t evolved enough to make live streaming a thing, yet.
If you are in charge of web project management, then it’s time to become a Meerkat. It is free to download, but currently only is available for iOS systems. Anyone can watch a live stream done with the app, though.
Darla F is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in helping agencies meet their goals by developing creative and engaging content.
