The first Periscope influencer network — Applause — is here

By David Kirkpatrick | February 8, 2016 print

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Dive Brief:

• Applause, the first influencer network for Periscope launched last week, which was first announced byTechCrunch.
• The network was founded by Dan Ragan, former marketing executive with GroupM, and Jon Jacques, a Periscope influencer.
• According to Applause, it already has Periscope influencers and brands signed up for the network.

Dive Insight:

Speaking on the value of Periscope as a marketing channel, Ragan told Marketing Dive, “Live streaming is going to take off in 2016 because it’s authentic, real-time, and more engaging than any other media format. Toss influencers into the mix, and brands now have the ability to supercharge their campaigns by delivering the effectiveness of word of mouth with the benefit of massive scale."

In a statement about the launch, Ragan pointed out the marketing on Periscope can be challenging and the Applause team will be able to help brands "understand the unique live streaming environment and avoid common pitfalls."

Co-Founder Jacques described the company as a multi-channel network in a statement, saying it focuses on creating and distributing live-stream content while offering marketers live-stream expertise in a channel that builds "trust and loyalty at scale."

Influencer marketing is a tactic growing in popularity, but it doesn't come without its own slew of challenges, specifically the ability to accurately measure metrics. And though it doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon, social media and influencer networks are going to have work to improve their measurement analytics tools if they want more marketers to buy in.

Twitter recently announced it would begin integrating Periscope into tweets. Meanwhile, Facebook rolled out its own livestreaming feature, Facebook Live. Some of the brands already signed up for Applause include Warner Bros. Pictures, KIND Snacks and Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Periscope Videos Are Now Autoplaying on Twitter

 100 million live broadcasts in past year By Lauren Johnson

• January 12, 2016, 10:10 AM EST
• Technology

Periscope videos will get more visibility. Twitter

Twitter is finally showing off how Periscope fits into its bigger video strategy. Starting today, livestreaming videos automatically play in newsfeeds in Twitter's iPhone app, similar to how the microblogging site's native videos and GIFs play.

And if mobile users want to watch the videos in full-screen mode, they can click on a tweet embedded with a Periscope link and watch it right from Twitter. Unlike other Twitter content, though, Periscope videos still have a short shelf-life and automatically disappear after 24 hours.

The Twitter-Periscope integration only works for viewing videos. To broadcast a video, people need to use the stand-alone Periscope app.

It's the first major tie between Twitter and Periscope since the livestreaming app launched last year, which revealed today that it has amassed 100 million live broadcasts since March 2015.

Periscope autoplay video could also boost Twitter's ad revenue. Brands have already been able to promote tweets embedded with Periscope streams, but packing newsfeeds full of video content could make it easier for Twitter to pitch agencies and brands on ads.

Autoplay video is likely only one part of Twitter's livestreaming video plan. Periscope CEO Kayvan Beykpour recently talked to Adweek about the Twitter-Periscope relationship, saying, "There's a lot that we're trying to do on our road map that comes down to really sophisticated technology that we otherwise would need to spend many months or years learning, acquiring, building, hiring for, that Twitter just has."

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Q&A: Periscope CEO Dishes on What Brands Can Expect With Livestreaming in 2016

 Is a Periscope camera coming soon? By Lauren Johnson

• January 3, 2016, 8:10 PM EST
• Technology

Periscope CEO Kayvon Beykpour is looking forward to 2016. Photo: Ian Allen

When Periscope launched to much buzz last March, the Twitter-owned app cemented 2015 as the year of livestreaming for digital marketers. Now boasting more than 10 million users watching 40 years' worth of video every day, and faced with growing competition from Facebook, YouTube and Meerkat, Periscope CEO Kayvon Beykpour is ready to turn his company into a bigger media and marketing platform in 2016. He spoke with Adweek about new features for marketers, how livestreaming will plug into new gadgets and technology, and Periscope's unique influence on this year's presidential election.

Adweek: Have you been surprised by Periscope's quick growth?
Kavyon Beykpour: Obviously, we hoped Periscope would resonate with people. At the end of the day, you kind of have blinders on because you're using this thing yourself with a bunch of other people that are emotionally invested in you because they're friends or family. That gives you some sense of whether you built something useful. But we needed to know whether someone halfway around the world would get value out of using this—and that we didn't know. In that sense, we were blown away by how quickly it grew and how many people used it.

What role do you foresee playing in this year's presidential race?
Historically, we've all interacted with political candidates in a very similar way. We see them on TV, we read about them in the papers, we get these very crafted experiences that have been used for decades. What's unique [about Periscope] is that you can engage with these folks in some real way on the car ride to their next event, or behind the scenes at their office as their staff is furiously preparing for the next debate. It's one thing to see Donald Trump live on TV—it's different to see him getting ready in the morning.

At CES, everyone's going to be talking about hardware and gadgets. Where do you see Periscope playing in those devices?
We're interested in what it would be like to leverage other Internet sources, whether that's a connection to a camera or [another device]. The flip side of that is you have to be super selective. There's a ton of devices out there to integrate with. We're not dogmatic about Periscope to be just on your iPhone and Android.

What would Periscope look like in another device?
If you're talking about cameras, you could get the camera input from those other gadgets and feed them into a Periscope experience. That's where the rubber meets the road. You look at other devices that have cameras and you're like, "All right. How could we possibly marry this to Periscope? How would it be useful?" That's the process that if you were working at Periscope, we'd go down and talk about all the different gadgets and figure out what would actually make for a compelling experience.

What are your growth expectations for Periscope in 2016?
We're still at a point where we care about building a tool and a product that people love to use. What additional functionality do we think would create a satisfying experience for broadcasters [or] viewers? How do they want to discover any content on Periscope? How do they want to explore the world? How do they want to comment with their friends versus strangers? We think that as long as we do [all] that well, the product will grow because people want to communicate, people want to be entertained. If we're doing our jobs well, they can do all of that on Periscope and will want to share all of that with their friends and the rest of the world.

What new advertising opportunities will brands have this year?
We've seen plenty of brands put a lot of creative effort and money into producing compelling content in Periscope that for them may serve as advertising. For example, BMW literally launched a car on Periscope. They had this beautifully well-lit studio where they had this new car that one of the product managers walked around and gave a tour of. That's work that BMW put into producing that content themselves, and it wasn't sponsored in any way on Periscope. That's our focus right now: creating a compelling product that people love to use. What we're not going to do anytime soon is add any sort of formal advertising or monetization within the platform. We haven't even had our first birthday yet.

But do you work with brands like BMW to help create content?
This is one of the fortunate things about being part of Twitter. The brand itself has spread far enough that a lot of folks hear about Periscope themselves and they want to naturally experiment. In some cases, we do have relationships with these companies. Twitter does a lot of work with some of them and so that gives us a natural outlet to share best practices that we've seen work really well for brands.

How would you describe the Twitter-Periscope relationship so far?
It's like a match made in heaven in the sense that we really get to operate like our own startup. If you were to walk into our office today, you're walking into the Periscope office, not the Twitter office. It's a small, rowdy office with dogs running around. We all sit together and eat lunch and dinner at the same table—it feels like a startup. We [have about] 28 people. It's a small, motley crew. But you combine that with the power and the support of a larger organization like Twitter and it's perfect for us because our visions are aligned. There's a lot that we're trying to do on our road map that comes down to really sophisticated technology that we otherwise would need to spend many months or years learning, acquiring, building, hiring for that Twitter just has.

What features do you plan to launch this year?
Discovery is really important for us. There's a lot that we can do to let you explore the world in real time easier. For example, one of the really exciting things that we launched is the map. You open up the app and you can zoom into a city and see what's live in that city. When the tragic events in Paris happened, the first thing I did was just zoom into Paris, and you saw hundreds if not thousands of broadcasts from all around the city. The other thing that we're really excited about is more strategic integration with Twitter.

Livestreaming took off in 2015, and now you're seeing big companies like Facebook make a bigger push into the space. How is Periscope going to differentiate itself?
We tend to not get distracted by other people entering the space because we know that it's going to happen. The best thing we can do is stay true to our vision and build an experience that we think moves the needle forward.

Beginner’s Guide To Periscope: What You Need To Know

 Marketing Tech
 Thursday, July 23rd, 2015
 Megan Pruitt

 46 days until SMW September 14-18 Conference in London, Miami, Rotterdam, and São Paulo. Learn more here.
A quick search on Twitter reveals that many people are asking, “What the heck is Periscope?” I am going to try to break down the platform for you on a very basic 101 level. I often see a trend of resistance when a new platform becomes popular. I urge you to give Periscope a try; I think it’s amazing.

WHAT IS PERISCOPE?
I want you to think of Periscope as your own live TV station. In more technical terms, Periscope is a live video streaming platform, and I think it is the missing link of social media that many marketers have been waiting for.

WHAT DOES PERISCOPE DO?
Periscope (owned by Twitter) is a platform that allows you to video-record and broadcast to anywhere in the entire world. If you have ever been on Skype, it is a similar experience but, instead of video conferencing with one person, you can stream to the masses.

WHO IS ON PERISCOPE?
One million users joined Periscope in its first ten days. From my observations, Periscope is a completely mixed bag of ages, genders and personalities. In my professional marketing opinion, I feel that this is a platform that will transcend a wide variety of audiences. I can’t wait till Periscope reveals more usage statistics!

WHAT IS THE PERISCOPE LINGO?
So, just like any other social media platform, Periscope has its own language, and my advice is don’t be intimidated. It is just the same as liking and following on Facebook or retweeting and mentioning on Twitter.


Let’s jump into some terminology:

Scoper – A person who is on the Periscope platform
Scope – Each time you live-broadcast a session, you are creating a scope. Think of a scope as an individual broadcast session.
Hearts – One way Scopers show their love is by tapping on the screen and giving a broadcaster hearts. Periscope will tally up the amount of hearts each user has, and the color of the hearts will correspond with the color assigned to your account.
Replay – Currently, Periscope gives the option for Scopers to have their broadcast recorded so other scopes can replay the broadcast.
Follow – Scopers follow each other. It is no different than liking a page on Facebook, connecting with a user’s profile on LinkedIn, or following a user on Twitter.
You can sign up with Periscope in two ways. First, you can use Periscope in conjunction with your Twitter account, and second, you can even create a Periscope account by using your cell phone number.

Personally, if you have a Twitter profile, I would for sure use Periscope in conjunction with your account. Each time you scope, you will have the option to push a notification to Twitter in an effort to gain a larger audience.

I think as the platform grows and improves that you will be able to follow Periscope users Twitter profile from the Periscope platform.


WHAT DO PEOPLE BROADCAST?
Anything and everything. I documented one night of periscope adventures in another blog post, but to give you an idea, I am going to open Periscope right now and list out a bunch of titles of broadcasts. I will include the good, the bad, and the ugly to give you an accurate representation of the platform.

“Here are 35 of my social media beliefs. How many do you agree with?”
“30 video topic brainstorm”
“Saturday morning heading to the #farmersmarket”
“Join me for my 2nd #Yogascope!”
“Walking to Notre Dame, early morning”
“Impressive Presidential motorcade passing by me right now in New York City. Wave to Obama with me!”
“Waiting to pump gas at BJ’s. Quick question for you”
If you’re hesitant to start using Periscope, don’t be nervous! The majority of Periscope users are newbies, too, and I promise you that, with practice, your scopes will become better and more natural. If you are struggling for the subject content, simply announce that it is your first scope and be honest. Each and every person on Periscope has been in your situation.

WHY AM I SO PASSIONATE ABOUT PERISCOPE?
Time to geek out for a minute… I am obsessed with this platform. I have made a career in social media since businesses first joined Facebook. I was one of the first social media managers managing accounts such as Pep Boys, QVC, Party City, Lane Bryant and many more. I have not been this excited about a “social media” platform in a very long time.

The business applications of this platform are insane. The power of transparent technology will be the next evolution of determining whether a business can be successful or not. Periscope can be used by any brand in new and extremely creative ways. Live streaming technology is the new frontier, folks!

Even more exciting, it reminds me of the early days of Facebook before the platform monetized and placed their focus on making money. Despite celebrities, users have a clean slate to step out really and be popular.

Twitter's Periscope is the best livestreaming video app yet

by Nicole Lee | @nicole | March 26th 2015 At 7:37am

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The age of ubiquitous livestreaming is upon us. I say this not only because of the sudden popularity of Meerkat, the mobile livestreaming app that now boasts over 100,000 users and celebrity aficionados like Jimmy Fallon and Madonna. No, it's because Meerkat now has a rival. A very big rival, in the form of Twitter. Today, the social media company hastaken the wrapper off Periscope, its very own livestreaming app that it acquired only a couple of weeks ago. Indeed, it was this very purchase that caused Twitter to cut Meerkat from its social graph, a move that makes it a lot harder for those on Meerkat to find folks to follow. Periscope, on the other hand, won't have the same problem -- it automatically suggests people you follow on Twitter when you sign up. That's certainly a significant advantage, but the app needs to be good, too, if it wants to unseat Meerkat. So, is it?

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Periscope hands-on

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After spending a few days with it, I can say yes, it is. As far as livestreaming apps go, and there aren't very many so far, it's certainly the best I've seen.

But hold on a minute, you might say. What's the purpose behind all this? What's the big fuss with livestreaming at all? Why would I want to watch a live broadcast of someone, especially if that someone is a stranger?

In a week of testing Periscope, I attempted to figure this out. I saw someone attending the Game of Thrones premiere. I saw Dr. Sanjay Gupta perform surgery on the operating table. I saw someone go up in a hot air balloon. I saw a fellow journalist talking to people in an Uber. I saw a friend with his cat. I saw ice melting in a glass of whiskey that apparently belongs to one John Hodgman. For even just a moment, I am allowed a very intimate glimpse into someone else's life. In most cases, those people were eager to talk back.

It was admittedly sort of cool. And a tiny bit addictive.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go over how the app works. When you launch Periscope, the first thing you'll see is a list of videos. Right up top are broadcasts that are currently live, but if you look underneath that, you'll see a list of recently recorded ones. That's right; unlike Meerkat, which doesn't let you view archives of past livestreams, Periscope lets folks keep their live broadcasts around for later replay. And because Periscope allows me to watch videos hours after the moment has passed, I get to see a lot more of them than I would with something like Meerkat. As for the kind of content you'll see, some of them will be featured videos -- curated stuff that the Periscope team thinks is interesting -- as well as clips that the people you follow have recently broadcasted.

Like with Meerkat, you'll get a push notification whenever someone you follow is broadcasting live and when someone invites you to watch a broadcast. This can get pretty annoying, so I'd suggest tweaking your notification settings to conserve your battery life and your sanity. Once you've decided to view a live broadcast, you can go ahead and watch it like you would on any other livestream service. If you like, you can choose to leave a comment -- the broadcaster and other viewers will see your comment in real time. Unlike Meerkat though, your comments are kept siloed within the app itself, which is great if you dislike cluttering up your Twitter stream with out-of-context remarks. As both a viewer and a broadcaster, you can hide the chat if it gets too noisy, or block someone if they say something offensive.

But perhaps the greatest part of Periscope -- I certainly think it's a highlight -- is the fact that you can send hearts to the broadcaster by tapping on the screen. Each tap will send a heart. Tap the screen multiple times and you'll send a flurry of animated hearts. I'll admit I take more than a little joy out of sending lots and lots of hearts to broadcasters whose videos I like perhaps only a little. On the other end as a broadcaster, it feels oddly gratifying to receive these hearts from viewers. I liken it to getting "favorites" on Twitter or "likes" on Facebook; it taps into that same insecure need for love and recognition (hey, I admit it). It's a very minor feature but it's one that I find rather delightful.

Interestingly, when you watch replays of broadcasts, those comments and hearts will also be replayed, as if you're watching the broadcast live. Kayvon Beykpour, Periscope's co-founder, tells me the idea behind this is intentional. "We try to recreate the experience of having watched it live as much as possible," he says.

Broadcasting on Periscope is a very easy task as well. Simply hit the camera button and give the app permission to access your camera and microphone (which, duh, is necessary). From there, you can choose to enable or disable location sharing. When I ask Beykpour the reason behind adding the location feature, he says that sometimes location is a key point in livestreaming. "Sometimes it's an important attribute. If I see a broadcast in Kiev, covering a Ukrainian protest, that location is very relevant information to what you're showing."

On the other side of the camera, well, I'll be honest. I don't lead a very exciting life. I get up; I go to work; I work all day long; and then I go home. Nobody wants to see that, right? But when I randomly streamed something from the office a few days ago, I was surprised to see so many people join in to say hello. Of course, part of the reason is because the app is so new that there are only so many users around broadcasting in the first place. But it was nice. I almost wish Periscope was around when I was on vacation in Europe a couple of weeks ago, so that I could share my experience walking around Barcelona.

Another interesting feature is that Periscope lets you broadcast privately instead of just to a public audience. You can invite as many people as you want to broadcast to, which Beykpour says is good for sharing intimate moments, like a child's first steps, to family and friends. Also, unlike Meerkat, which auto posts rather obnoxious "|LIVE NOW|" tweets whenever someone is livestreaming on the service, Periscope offers the option to not broadcast that stream on Twitter at all. This way, only Periscope users get to see your stream, which is good if you like separating your social networks.

If that stream does get broadcast on Twitter, however, your followers will see a link to a Periscope web player that lets anyone view your video, not just those with the app (though those without the app will likely get a prompt to download it). That said, web viewers aren't able to leave comments or send hearts or watch the archives, so those keen on interaction will probably still want to get it.

Once you've got the livestream going, you can double-tap the screen to flip the cameras from rear-facing to front-facing (and vice versa) and swipe down to reveal the Stop Broadcast button. After you stop the broadcast, the video will automatically be saved for replay and you can then choose to save it to your camera roll if you like. But let's say you found something kinda embarrassing and you'd rather not have anyone view that video ever again. No worries, because if you scroll down to the bottom, you can select the option to delete that footage. You can even opt to share the video but hide the comments entirely.

Beykpour tells me that an infinite number of people can view any one broadcast, which sounds pretty crazy to me, especially if you consider that someone like Beyoncé might livestream a video and get millions and millions of viewers. Imagine if all those people left a comment at once! That's why Periscope apparently has some heuristics in place to prevent such chaos if it does happen. "For example, after a certain scale, only people the broadcaster follows can chat," he says. "But that'll be a very rare occasion."

Also, there is no maximum length that you can broadcast -- you can record for however long you desire. Of course, your iPhone might not have enough storage space for the video to save to your camera roll, but the video will carry on livestreaming as long as you have battery life and a decent internet connection.

Still, there are some serious questions about livestreaming that need to be answered, especially around privacy. When I'm livestreaming on my phone, there's nothing to indicate that I'm doing it except for maybe the unusual posture of holding it. The Starbucks barista who made my coffee didn't know he was being livestreamed. The lady walking the dog next to me on the sidewalk didn't know she was being livestreamed. Of course, the photos you post on Instagram and the videos you post on Vine are subject to the same concerns, but there's something so immediate and right-now about livestreaming that makes the issue more real.

Beykpour chooses to see the positive side of it. "Livestreaming was the best way to accomplish what we wanted to do, which was to give you the sense of what's happening in the world right now," he says. "Live video is interactive. It's a much more compelling medium. ... It's literally stepping into someone else's shoes."

As for Meerkat, Beykpour says that it's not a big deal that his app has debuted several weeks after the competition. "We were never going to be the first to market -- Ustream and Justin.tv existed before," he says. "We believe that Periscope is charming and endearing and it's something that people will love to use." He adds that Periscope is not just for celebrities; it could also be about sharing civic unrest like what's happening in Ferguson or it could be about sharing intimate moments with family. "Periscope enables that which no other platform has done before."

Ben Rubin, Meerkat's CEO and co-founder, says that he finds Periscope to be a pretty sleek app and doesn't think of it in a negative light. "It means good things for livestreaming," he says. "We don't look at it as a rivalry. We just have a different approach." If anything, he adds, Periscope will spread the word of livestreaming even more than before, which is good for Meerkat too.

Of course, Periscope is still very much in development. There's currently no support for landscape mode and you're not able to type in the comments section yourself -- the idea is that you're supposed to speak to your viewers, not just type at them -- but the team is working very hard on improving things, and we'll likely see lots of updates in the coming weeks and months.

For now, however, you can satisfy your livestreaming curiosity by downloading the app. It's iOS-only for now, but word is that an Android version is on its way very soon.

5 Quick Tips for Using Periscope, Twitter's New Live Video Streaming App

Written by Jessica Webb | @jessicawebbica

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In the last month or so, there's been a big surge in live video broadcasting. Thanks to smartphone apps like Periscope, users can record live video streams and share them with their network.

For example, a friend of mine recently used Periscope to livestream an iPhone video of her walking her dog. She shared a link to the live stream on Twitter, and a few of her followers clicked through and watched her walk her dog in real time. Kind of weird, but at the same time, kind of cool.

So, why are we writing about live streaming dog-walking videos on a marketing blog? Because video broadcasting apps like Periscope (and its slightly older competitor, Meerkat) aren't just good for silly, just-for-fun clips like that one. It's a new tool that has a lot of potential uses for marketers like us. Twitter seemed to get the hint early on when they bought Periscope in February 2015, before it'd even launched.

Whereas social media sites like Instagram and Vine let users record short video clips and post them online afterward, Periscope takes a different approach, allowing users to post live video streams of what they're doing at that very moment. "It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation," said Periscope's founders. "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." And that's just what they're doing.

I've spent the last few weeks diving head-first into Periscope's app (available for iPhone and Android). In this post, I'll share with you what I've learned through my experimentation. I hope these observations give you the desire and the confidence to experiment with live streaming yourself.

5 Tips for Using Periscope

1) Consider timing.

It's a bit too early in the game for there to be benchmarks for which time windows will get you the most views, But, keep in mind that because Periscope is connected to Twitter, that's where you'll be promoting your broadcasts primarily -- so do some research on your Twitter audienceto find out when they're most engaged with your posts.

Even if some of your followers miss out, the app will save your videos to the app by default (although you can delete them manually if you want to), and they'll be available for viewing by your followers for 24 hours. You have the option of saving your videos to your phone's camera roll.

As for the length of your video broadcasts, remember that most people's attention spans are fairly short -- especially on mobile. If your broadcasts aren't capitvating from the get-go, users will likely stop viewing your stream. Speaking of attention span ...

2) Spend time coming up with a compelling title.

The title of your video is the only thing separating Periscope users scrolling through the "Featured" or "Recent" streams section of the app from clicking on your broadcast. All they'll see is the title of the video and your name. Because of this, it's vital that your title describe what your video is and why people should either tune in now or replay your stream later (up to 24 hours).

Here are a few styles that make effective titles:

Straight-Forward

Sometimes, the most effective title will tell people exactly what you're going doing in the video. For example, Elijah Wood posted a video with the title "Jellyfish" whilst visiting the aquarium -- which is exactly what the video showed; nothing more, nothing less. Another example? WhenEngadget broadcasted a video with the title, "Watch our live unboxing of @Microsoft's @Surface 3 now!" Can't argue with that.

Exclusive

A title that lets users believe they're seeing exclusive footage can be super compelling. For example, Ellen Degeneres broadcasted a video titled, "I'm Periscoping live from my show!" for all the viewers at home. Another version of this could be "A Back-Stage Look Into..." or something along those lines.

Unique (Or Just Plain Weird)

Broadcasting something unique, rare, or just plain weird? Own it. One of my personal favorites was, “My fridge: 100 viewers and I’ll drop eggs."

An Invitation to Learn

Guy Kawasaki has gotten really into using Periscope to record talks and conferences. For example, he posted a video of "The Art of the Start lecture at Microsoft." This performed particularly well as it's both educational and experiential.

3) Make your broadcast easy to find.

When you use Periscope, you'll have the option to do a private broadcast, share the broadcast on Twitter, and share your location. To get the most views, I'd recommend sharing your broadcast on Twitter and turning on the location tagging option. This way, you'll reach a bigger audience -- and having your video on your Twitter feed gives it a longer tail strategy.

Posting to Twitter

If you turn Twitter sharing on, then your broadcast will be shared with your Twitter followers in a tweet that follows the following formula: LIVE on #Periscope: [Video Title] [Link to Video]

There's no option to customize tweets yet. The broadcast will expire after 24 hours, and anyone who clicks on the link will be redirected to a page encouraging them to check out your broadcasts and download the app.

Turning on Location Tagging

Location tagging was a major privacy concern for many people when Periscope started because it pinpointed the specific location you posted from. Thankfully, they've updated the app since then so that your location is recorded as a large geographic region rather than a specific location. So you should feel free to share your location to provide context for your viewers.

4) Respond to comments live.

One of the coolest features on Periscope is that people who are watching your stream in real time can comment and "like" the broadcast (which show up as hearts, like on Instagram). Other viewers are able to see these comments and the number of hearts your video has. Acknowledge or even respond to these comments out loud on the live broadcast to encourage engagement and make the experience feel like more of a two-way conversation.

The number of hearts you get helps you get your username ranked in Periscope's app under "Popular People to Follow." There's also a "Most Loved" section in the app that lists users with the most total hearts from all their broadcasts.

5) Experiment with use cases.

Since Periscope is still so new, there aren't solidly defined ways to use it, especially for brands. This is a unique opportunity for you to experiment with different ways of using it and what type of content your audience likes most.

Periscope lets you analyze a few key stats you'll want to keep track of while you're figuring out what works. Once your video ends, the app lets you see how many live viewers you had, how many viewers replayed your video, and how many hearts your video received (this number updates automatically as users continue "liking" your video from the time it ends until it expires).

Finally, as you experiment with different recording environments, keep in mind that background noise is easily picked up by microphones -- so you'll want to make sure you're in a relatively controlled environment if doing a more serious or professional broadcast.

I hope you've found my initial observations and tips helpful. I'd love to hear how you're using Periscope, whether for personal or professional use. Please share stories and advice in the comments below!