Why are users flocking to live streaming Apps?

Will you mind if I ask you to “JUST IMAGINE”….?

One fine morning you wake up, and while scrolling through your social networking sites or an app find your milkman/newspaper guy/or someone else for an instance lives in there.

“Hey guys on my way, it’s beautiful weather, heading for my usual task, can you guess whose place will I’m about to reach? And so on…”  Soon you find yourself online with them, in your boxers going live. 

That might sound a bit humorous (pardon for my poor example) but believe the words, ‘Winter is coming’. (I accept this was another of the same kind).

The reason behind these is that I recently spent a lot of time going through online videos. Every online space, be it Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube (obvious) etc. Randomly out of every 10 posts was either a live stream or some other video. Looking at the current trends of live-streaming apps, mobile application developers have started focusing more on developing apps of the same kind.

The limits crossed when I found the guy living next door making his birthday party available for live streaming.

What’s leading this storm?

Looking at this entire chaos in the web world, an obvious curiosity raised, pushing me to learn about this. And I began to scroll;

The Evolution

Back in time, live streaming was confined. Well, not just the things have changed drastically; even the way it’s used has changed. If you really need to see its impact, scroll through social networking sites, they’ll narrate the saga.

If you are the one born in the early 90s or prior to that, you might be aware of the evolution of live streaming. However, the one we have today is entirely different. Today it has become part of socio-personal and corporate life both.

Both of them prefer going live, and then wait till the prevailing and prospective clients arrive. Ahhh!! There they come. This is the time live interaction happens. Get to know your users, their likes, dislikes, and areas of interest.

Share your perspectives, presumptions, and future endeavors with your users. If any of your recent activity backfired, share it with your users. Don’t hesitate, always remember ‘To err is human….’ be a proud Human.

The change

‘Rome was not built in a day’ and neither the flyover a few lanes away from my office. So, this means that, be it any constructive change, it does take the time to find its ‘physical form’.

Going live online started somewhere in 2011, the year when YouTube took the curtains off its Live Video Service. This wasn’t the end and the ‘Big Boys’ at YouTube proved this by releasing gamer streaming service in 2015, and going with rumors, they are soon too with a live streaming app named, ‘YouTube Connect’.

Is this really what truly matters?

Live streaming is no longer the way it started. Periscope, Meerkat, Blab, and YouNow are few of the mobile applications that are changing the way we go live.

You never know how it’s going to be in the coming days. But looking at the present scenario, wherein people are sharing every moment of their life by simply going online, we can stay assured about the fantasy fable to come.

What’s driving the trend?

Cisco recently released a report which claims that by 2019, the live streaming videos will account for 80% of global internet traffic. Sounds Big!! However, the question arises, what’s driving the trend? Let’s find it here:

• Connecting with those at distance: Live streaming enables an individual/corporate to connect with people who couldn’t make a physical Let us suppose there’s an annual meeting, and due to unavoidable reasons, some of your clients/users fail to join. At this stage, live streaming allows you to connect with them, and keep them updated with the events happening.

• Track the viewers: The live streaming keeps you updated with the number of people that are connected with you while being live. Take a note of the total number of people tuned, those who are interacting through comments and other means, and the ones who contacted you after the session finished.

• Sync visual and written: Live streaming allows you to connect with your users and through written and verbal words both. They can ask you questions and share feedback through comments, while you’ll be replying to them visually.

• Anytime anywhere: Live streaming feature can be accessed anytime anywhere. This is the best part about the live streaming option, that you can use it 365 days (366 in the case of a leap year) and 24 hours. This helps you coordinate with people who belong to different geographical locations and follow different time zones.

The time’s inclination

While looking at this growing trend, at times I did presumed this to be another wave, but with the passing days, it’s just gaining more and more response. Private and public sectors are trying their hands off with new strategies to benefit their business with it.

Apart from these, even the people, in general, are getting inclined towards this new wave.

Looking at this flock of the crowd, I believe that soon we’ll have a major section of people relishing the essence of it. The same pushed me towards finding out details about this ‘new nest’ which is becoming the house of interest for many.

Recently lifted curtains:

• Facebook: With revised newsfeed algorithms and a team of 150 engineers, Mark isn’t leaving any stone unturned to give life to Facebook’s live streaming option. They indeed got the attention required:

The result of this came impeccably. A recent share came from the house of pointer.org:

• Tumblr: With its partners, YouTube, YouNow, AOL’s Kanvas, and Upclose, the microblogging social networking site recently joined the live streaming race with rest. Instead of going with new technology and wasting money, they decided to integrate the same in collaboration, making it a smarter move.

• Twitter: Partnering with Innovid to track its live stream metrics, ‘Big Boys’ at Twitter portrayed plans for their recently released live-streaming app Periscope. Though the company says that the user experience won’t change drastically, but the output has significantly changed the reaction of its users. According to a report, by the mid of December 2016, there were close to 200 million broadcasts on Periscope.

• Live.ly: Released by one of the fastest-growing karaoke social media app Musical.ly at VidCon. While the users will be able to broadcast through the release, streaming will be viewable on its elder sibling Musical.ly. The application commendably monetizes its users (especially on its iOS platform) in comparison to its elder sibling Musical.ly.

Why choose the boulevard

When you mean business you mean benefit (not mean benefit). Any step doesn’t reap fruitful results, is considered waste. So, just to ensure that you don’t consider ‘live streaming functionality as one of the kind, here we have listed a few benefits:

• Reduces cost: The web world today isn’t just massive in its size, but it’s also a tried and tested marketplace. Live streaming is getting used as a convenient option to organize employee training, events, seminars, Q & A sessions at the same time for different places. This eventually saves your cost in boarding, lodging, event organizing, security, etc.
  I hope you remember that old saying, ‘Money saved is money earned’.

• Bigger and better: Your physical event venue will have occupancy restrictions, but the vast internet universe. With no geographical restrictions being involved, your event and content can surpass ‘n’ number of audience. The vast reach subsequently avails better opportunities and chances of growth for the company.

• Priority badge: You might be creating a video of your events and further sharing it with people, but this is something they can access anytime. However, the moment you go live, people know that ‘it’s now or never’ (though there are options to avail the same later, the decision rests on your side). With this priority badge, you can create quite a stir on the web.

• Enhanced Interaction: With your annual meetings, seminars being organized at a physical location, the major audience you might have will be your prevailing clients. However, the moment it goes live on the internet, you have ample opportunity and chances to gain new potential clients. If you are successful in impression them, you have better chances to gain potential clients.

• Building entity: By going live on the web, you make yourself stand apart from the regular crowd. As we mentioned earlier that the smart consumers/clients of an era not only need smart products and services, but they also urge smart creators. With your initiative in making productive and innovative use of the internet, you can probably stir your marketing operations towards the aim you set.

Miles to go before I conclude

The live streaming industry is growing at a rapid rate. Since its very first knock in 2011 (YouTube) until today, it has made commendable advancements and has gained noticeable appreciation and attention from people across the globe.

However, the journey of live streaming applications seems like a never-ending boulevard, which will treat its users with better scenery with every passing step.