Up Periscope
There was no way I was going to get a good view of the drag show that was happening 20 feet away from me last weekend. The crowd was thick and not budging.
I was at ARTafterDARK’s “Wig Out” event, craning my neck to see over the huge crowd as Beyonce’s
Sweet Dreams echoed through the large courtyard. I couldn’t see, but
I could hear perfectly, cringing each time the inner crowd with the perfect view would scream out in unison, reacting to something those of us in the outer core were not privy to. All I could see was the top of a tall cylindrical head piece on an already tall individual in even taller heels, perfectly timed to that dreamy bass line of a track I completely forgot I loved so much.
I inched back toward the stairs going up to the upper gallery and noticed a woman watching her phone and reacting with the inner crowd. I peeked at her phone and realized someone else with a perfect view was streaming the performance — and she was watching it on her phone. It didn’t feel weird to lurk on her phone, as a few others higher up on the stairs also were peeking over. She glanced up a few times with approval, happy to help the rest of us out.
While watching the video, I saw that other people were joining the video and realized, this is that app I’ve been hearing about. This was Periscope.
As much as I’ve been hearing about Periscope, for some reason, I am still clinging to Snapchat. Both of these hyper-voyeuristic, over-sharing-enabling apps hold onto the data-heavy content for 24 hours before obliterating it, but Periscope seems to be catching on much faster than Snapchat ever did.
I only know this because most people who forgot they even had or used Twitter have been popping up in my feed again, with Tweets that they are now live on Periscope. That’s automatically generated from Periscope, but hey, whatever gets you to Tweet is fine with me.
Personally, I tend to go for Snapchat, not Periscope, when a moment calls for sharing with the world, and it’s not programmed in my brain yet to think to livestream something cool to share. After exploring the features of Periscope, however, I need to start figuring that out.
The main reason? I love the interaction. First of all, people may forget to check a Snapchat story before it’s gone 24 hours later, but Periscope will alert you when there’s something you should be watching. I also love the immediacy of the hearts, which flow from the corner of the screen when viewers show their approval of what you are streaming. Snapchat is a bit more isolated, as you are preparing your story all day with no idea who will even watch.
Periscope also brings back the social aspect that it appears many still want. I am happy to not know or care who is watching the Snapchat stories I am posting or viewing, but some users need that satisfaction. That’s completely OK.
Some notable Periscopers in Honolulu that you might want to keep up with: Ho-nolulu Museum of Art, concert promoter BAMP Project and, of course, all of the techies like Burt Lum, Ryan Ozawa and John Garcia.
@SUPERCW
Christa Wittmier is “SUPERCW” on all social media. Find her on Snapchat, SoundCloud, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. By night, she is known as DJ SuperCW. By day, she is known as senior marketing director for Young’s Market Company of Hawaii. Her nightlife blog SuperCity runs every Wednesday on HonoluluPulse.com.
