Periscope App

Persicope is a live video screen app owned by Twitter that allows you to show followers what you’re doing right now using your phone.

If you’re a blogger, you need to get on it straight away! The reason? Although the Periscope App is owned by Twitter, they don’t import your followers so it’s like starting from scratch. This is great news because it’s a level playing field – the quicker you’re on it, the more of a head start you’ll have. And it doesn’t matter if your blog is big or small – you grow your own audience right from the very beginning – being an early adopter is crucial.

I was such a late adopter of Instagram (I was still struggling along with my Blackberry years after everyone else had built a juicy following) and regret to this day I didn’t start it sooner, actually more because I like it so much rather than worrying too much about a following. Hence the Periscope App post!

I spent the weekend getting live reports from outside the Lindo wing and really behind the scenes shots too from Simon Vigar at 5 News (less because I’m interested in the royal baby and more to get to know the app) and I’ve even done a couple myself – rather boringly, views from Greenwich Park and a reveal of the new Make Up Revolution palette. And that’s the thing.. there isn’t really a beauty community on there yet; it’s just waiting for us to start it (I’m at Britishbeautyblogger if you want to follow, although please bear with…it’s a work in progress!).

There are some beauty folks on there – Sam Chapman and Nic Chapman (Nic Haste) for example, as well as MAC Cosmetics, Mark Hill and L’Oreal Paris USA. Lots of people haven’t done their first Periscope yet; it’s a really new app. The best follow by far that I’ve found is Kay Burley from Sky News (we had a peep into her lunch box while she sat it out for the royal baby).

The Periscope App is interactive, so you can type in live questions and hopefully get them answered live too – they float up onto the screen so that the person making the broadcast can read and respond. You can also tap the screen and make ‘hearts’ which are equivalent to FB likes I suppose.

The people I’m following are a mix of news and beauty with a couple of retailers thrown in – much like my Twitter feed actually. If you don’t know how to find people to follow (which is something that isn’t as easy as it should be at this stage), click on someone you know (I used Selfridges) and see who they follow and follow them too, as well as following their followers. That way you know you have a common interest.

I am absolutely sure at some point I will see something I really don’t want to see (much like a new app I joined..can’t remember the name of it… that was supposed to be the new social thing – after five penis pictures, I deleted the app!) but you can block followers so you never have to see it twice! When someone you are following is doing a live stream, your phone will whistle (I keep mine on silent and get a visual flash up) to let you know and you can watch if you want to.

The best tutorial I have found for Periscope is by Ana Hoffman HERE. She makes the point that if you don’t get your name registered, particularly if you are a blogger, then someone else could easily take it which would just make life complicated.

Periscope is HERE.