Periscope and Meerkat the latest trends taking over Twitter (and now Facebook for Meerket) is live-streaming video. Last month, Twitter released the app Periscope, and previously a mere few weeks before that Meerkat, which sends live video from your smartphone into a Twitter feed. Users watching along can comment or send affirmations to the broadcaster.
The app has the potential to change the way we experience live events from afar, be they sports games or live news — One minute I can be watching someone walk the streets of New York, the next I’m sitting behind the plate at a Dodgers baseball game in LA, then I am at a conference in Western Australia.
The only real issue I have experienced with Periscope and Meerkat app’s is that it’s hard to search for streams via keyword/topic, instead you have to search via people. So to get you started on creating a more customised Periscope and Meerkat experience here are a couple of ways that you can search for live-streaming videos on Twitter.
Getxplore
One tool you can use is to visit Getxplore and link your Twitter account to them. This will then allow you to see current Periscope and Meerkat streams and then enter search quires to find the types of streams that you are looking for. Nice, clean and simple!
Visit: getxplore.com
Twitter Search
If giving access to an unfamiliar app is not your style and you wish to have constant access to newly live-streamed video on Twitter then Twitter search will be for you. Through Twitter search and using such Twitter management programs such as Tweet Deck or Hootsuite you can setup streams to constantly pull Periscope and Meerkat streams direct to you dashboard. Here’s how!
Search: #Periscope OR #Meerkat
Want to see what the world of Periscope and Meerkat has to offer? Simply add #Periscope OR #Meerkatas a search term and now you will have access to every single live-streaming video that is shared to Twitter.
Here is an example of what the search results will look like: twitter.com/search
Search #Periscope OR #Meerkat in a location
If you want to get a bit more specific with your search of Periscope and Meerkat streams, you can then filter the streams to be location specific. By using the following search #periscope OR #Meerkat near:”New York, NY” within:50mi I can now easily see every shared live-streaming video within New York. The search can obviously be replace by any city around the world. This now gives you the ability to see what is happening in real-time video within specific locations. While browsing New York could be fun and exciting, being able to search in a specific location can also give you a user’s first hand experience of breaking news or within a disaster zone ie. if you were to view live-streaming video from Nepal.
Here is an example of what the search results will look like: twitter.com/search
Search #Periscope OR #Meerkat and a keyword(s)
With filtering down to location you can also add keyword(s) to make the search even more specific, however in this example if you’re not concerned about the location here is how you can see live-streaming video about certain keywords. As some of you may know I am a huge baseball fan (Go Mariners) so I thought it would be great to see live-streaming video from Major League Baseball games. To achieve this I searched (#periscope OR #meerkat) AND (baseball OR mlb). The result? I was now sitting behind the plate at a Dodgers baseball game in LA!
Here is an example of what the search results will look like: twitter.com/search
Twitter already opened up the world to it’s users allowing them to see everything and anything, create a customised experience and stay up to date with what matters to them personally. Now with Periscope and Meerkat you can do the same, however now you can participate and in a sense feel like you are right there with the user. Where will you be travelling to next via live-streaming video?
