Earlier this month a new app called Meerkat was launched, starting quietly but quickly gaining buzz when Twitter took a brief stand against it, as it connects to and relies on the Twitter API. With Meerkat, viewers can watch a live broadcast from a mobile device, commenting through a tweet within the app that appears on their Twitter timeline as well as on-screen within the broadcast. As a broadcaster, a tweet is triggered when you start streaming, allowing anyone to tune in and comment on your real-time experience. It’s everything you would expect from a Livestream/Twitter hybrid, with a trendy yellow icon and user-friendly simplicity. Entrepreneur Ben Rubin, founder of Meerkat, launched the app as an “experimental side project” that was built in just eight weeks, but just recently made it a priority over his other project, Air. A previous video project called Yevvo was shut down after raising $3.6 million in fear that it wasn’t going to be “it”, which leaves the weariness and concern that Meerkat could follow the same path.
After connecting the app to my personal Twitter account, I stumbled upon a Leaderboard of users, whom were each given a score given by the amount of viewers and live streams to date. I followed Ashton Kutcher and Gary Vaynerchuk along with a few random followers that seemed to be pretty active. Thirty minutes later, as I was sitting at my kitchen table reading through emails and drinking my first cup of coffee, I received notification that one of the random follows was broadcasting from a small brunch spot in San Francisco that I visited this past year. As I logged on and loaded the video stream, I entered the kitchen and prep space of this small restaurant that brought me some of the finest poached eggs I’ve ever tasted. The streaming experience wasn’t breathtaking, and I didn’t feel as though it had changed my life, but for that brief second I was back in San Francisco eating breakfast amongst some of the most interesting people out there, while the user talked with her friend about peoples’ interest in the random stuff that we do every day. She was exactly right. This seemingly random task of waiting for breakfast connected me to my own experiences in that same space, while being over 1,000 miles away. After a few curious minutes, I made my way out of the stream with the whimsy of my times in San Francisco. In regards to Meerkat, I could now say, “I remember my first time….”.
There have been other unique experiences since, including an early morning drop in on Tyler Riewer, Content Strategist at charity:water. As I clicked the link, I was the first viewer to see him wrapped in a polar bear costume, with a co-worker prancing around behind him in the same outfit. I immediately felt uneasy, much like many did when they decided to take a chance on ChatRoulette. But Tyler quickly explained that they had bought the suits to support someone that was participating in a polar plunge to raise money, and all was well. Random. Fun. An inside look. I’m intrigued. TechCrunch spent a few hours on Meerkat just talking about Meerkat. The musicians of United Pursuit streamed from inside their tour van as I listened to the confusion and uncertainty about the app from the crew.
“What is this thing and how is it even working?”
“Do people actually care about what we’re doing right now?”
Meerkat is the confirmation and validation that live video streaming within Twitter is going to happen. The real question is if Twitter will move into acquisition conversations, or announce that they have already purchased the same concept in another startup with plans to shut down Meerkat. Much like how, in 2008, many wondered, “why the heck would anyone want to have unlimited access to my words and ramblings in 140 characters?”, I see the same situation arising in our day-to-day adventures and wanderings. There is a whole world of opportunity for this app to develop beyond the random encounters of ones day and into large-scale, branded events like the SuperBowl, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and perhaps next week’s SXSW (I’ve got dibs on this one). Stay tuned. Snapchat video may have found a new nemesis. We’re in for a treat.
