Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Pope featured in White House’s first ever Periscope production

By

pope features in white houses first ever periscope production house
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Already signed up to all the major social media platforms, the White House has now also jumped aboard streaming service Periscope to bring users of the app live broadcasts from inside the Obama administration.

Starring in its very first Periscope production is Pope Francis, who landed in the U.S. on Tuesday on his very first trip to the country as head of the Catholic church.

Recommended Videos

The video, which’ll remain online till about 4pm ET Wednesday, starts off with a not-so-close-up view of the pope’s jet sitting on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. There’s a fair amount of time spent staring at the closed door of the papal plane, waiting for something to happen. A red carpet is rolled out. We can hear some fans of the pope (or of the president?) cheering somewhere out of shot, while all the time the aircraft’s door stays firmly shut. And all this in portrait mode.

Related

The 10,000 or so Periscope users who dropped by the stream hoping to get a glimpse of the pope had their patience rewarded when the man himself eventually emerged from the aircraft to be greeted by President Obama, VP Joe Biden, and their families.

You can do landscape!

Despite Periscope recently rolling out landscape mode as a broadcast option, the White House’s Periscoper, apparently oblivious to the possibility, spent the first five minutes streaming in portrait mode. A slew of comments from viewers eventually alerted the streamer to the fact that landscape was possible, and as the pope shakes hands with the president, the picture finally switches to landscape.

So that’s it, the White House’s first outing with Periscope is in the can, and while the slow build up, distant viewpoint, and opening in portrait mode may have frustrated a few viewers, we’re looking forward to seeing how the team better utilizes the platform in the coming weeks and months.

Social media president

Barack Obama has been dubbed the first social media president for his, or rather his team’s, enthusiastic use of platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, Flickr, Vine, and now, of course, Periscope. Effective use of the online services is thought to have played a part in helping Obama secure his two presidential election victories.

For Twitter-owned Periscope, having such a high-profile user on board is a clear accomplishment for the six-month-old startup as it seeks to take its service to a much wider audience and build the brand further.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more