Twitter's (TWTR) recent exodus of a handful of key executives definitely suggests the company is facing challenges as it aims to transform the social product into one that appeals to the masses. But the company's live-streaming app, Periscope, appears to be moving in its own, more positive direction.
The most-recent move from the Periscope team? The app is going beyond smartphone cameras by enabling GoPro (GPRO -2.83%) capture devices to stream live footage to Periscope.
GoPro Hero4 Black. Image source: GoPro.
Live broadcasting from GoPro devices
The new feature, which the Periscope team announced in a post on Medium on Tuesday, enables GoPro Hero 4 Silver and Black cameras to connect to Periscope and post live broadasts.
Users can enable the new feature by connecting their phones to the WiFi on their GoPro devices, and then opening the Periscope app and tapping the broadcast button.
Broadcasting live footage from a GoPro device. Image source: Periscope.
The new feature also allows users to switch between GoPro and iPhone cameras without interrupting a live broadcast. And if users want to focus solely on their GoPro footage, Periscope has introduced a new button to lock their screens, "so nothing is accidentally pressed while it's safely in your pocket."
This GoPro and Periscope integration adds value for both companies. With GoPro devices known for their ability to capture action footage, a live broadcast from these devices will bring more immersive and dynamic footage to Periscope. And it will give owners of GoPro devices new ways to share their content.
Currently, this feature is only available on iOS.
Periscope is gaining momentum
When Twitter reported its third-quarter results, most of the media focus quickly turned to the company's worse-than-expected guidance for Q4, along with its slowing user growth. But the company did provide some insight into a vague vision for its other key social products: Vine and Periscope.
Twitter CFO Anthony Noto was particularly excited about Periscope.
"Periscope has a really significant and really exciting roadmap coming up," he said, "which really stretches the boundary of what it means to see an event live and to see that unfold."
Noto said Twitter planned to turn both products into businesses, but noted that, in the near term, the focus would continue to be on the "end-to-end experience around both products ... making sure we're giving creators a whole lot more tools to express themselves in a more creative way."
Periscope is following through on its ambitions. The GoPro integration reflects Noto's reference to ways the app could stretch "the boundary of what it means to see an event live and to see that unfold." And Periscope's recent move to bring live Periscope feeds directly into Twitter also delivers on this.
Twitter's Periscope and Vine apps remain big unknowns in any analysis of the company's potential over the long haul. With the last reported monthly-active-user figure for the two companies at 200 million and 10 million, both of these platforms are still somewhat small. Facebook has more than 1.5 billion monthly users, and Twitter has about 320 million users. But as these brands continue to grow, they could become integral to Twitter's business.
