Twitter has the reputation for being the fastest unofficial real-time news update service. But what if reading about what’s happening in the world is not enough? What if you want to witness events as they happen?

Periscope is a live video streaming app for iOS and Android developed by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein.

“… we became fascinated by the idea of discovering the world through someone else’s eyes. What if you could see through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine? Or watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia? It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation. While there are many ways to discover events and places, we realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around.”

Periscope gives ordinary people another platform to become citizen journalists. Now everyone can broadcast news and you don’t have to depend on television stations for your world-wide news update. Of course Periscope isn’t used only for news events. As with other social media platforms, the range of topics is wide and sometimes border on the ridiculous.

Scopers (Periscope’s nickname for their users) can broadcast anything they want – whether it’s a trip to the beach or making dinner. Their scope is broadcasted in real-time and remains available for 24 hours. However, you can save streams to view later – an advantage Periscope holds over their competitor, Meerkat. Viewers can comment in real-time and messages scroll on the broadcasted video, visible to other viewers. If you enjoy the broadcast, you can throw hearts at it. (yes really) Read more on The Verge.

Beykpour and Bernstein started their company in February 2014. Just over a year later, in January 2015, before it was officially launched, Twitter bought the app. On 12 January Twitter integrated Periscope into its timeline, enabling you to watch and broadcast videos via your own Twitter timeline.

In another ground-breaking move Periscope is now compatible with the GoPro hero 4. Once a GoPro is connected to your phone, Periscope automatically activates and GoPro footage is streamed directly to Periscope. 

You can either download the Periscope app from the Google Play store or browse to their TV channel, PeriscopeTV.  Watch Kayvon Beykpour explain Periscope to talk-show host Stephen Colbert below or read Socialmediaweek’s beginners guide.

[SOURCES: www.wikipedia.org, www.theverge.com]