Twitter’s Periscope expanded its live-streaming capabilities in a big way with the introduction of its “Producer” program in October. The venture allowed popular creators to host live Twitter broadcasts from a plethora of new devices, including HD and 360 video cameras, VR headsets, webcams, and desktop streaming software. At the time, the company promised it would be rolled out to all users in the future. Well, that day has arrived.
On February 23, Periscope announced that its update of its iOS and Android apps makes Producer available to the masses. Once you download the latest version of Persicope, you’ll see the “advanced sources” option in settings. A full guide on how to use third-party devices to live-stream on Twitter is available on the Periscope website.
The Periscope app will show a preview of your stream when you start broadcasting, allowing you to publish when it is completed. Additionally, creators will have the ability to incorporate graphics and footage from external sources, bringing the final product closer to what you’d expect to see on YouTube.
The ability to create professional-looking live video should appeal to frequent users of the service, especially seeing as you can publish your streams to Twitter, opening them up to a bigger audience. It also gives the social platform an advantage over its rival Facebook, which has restricted its live-streaming application programming interface to its media partners.
In regards to Periscope, it proves that predictions of its “death” may have been shortsighted. Yes, the service is firmly integrated into Twitter’s apps, but you still need to go to through it to be able to expand beyond mobile live-streams.
Casual Twitter users also stand to benefit from the influx of professional content. With Twitter increasingly looking to artificial intelligence to help surface more relevant topics to match its users’ interests, that content could now also include a diverse amount of live video going forward.
Updated 02/24/2017 by Saqib Shah: Added info on general rollout of Periscope Producer
