Periscope's stream tipping is available outside the US

Periscope's livestream tipping system is no longer a US-only affair -- the Twitter-owned service has expanded its Super Broadcaster program to Canada, Ireland and the UK. As before, livestreamers who've received enough Super Hearts (which viewers pay for with in-app purchases) can apply to become Super Broadcasters and trade those Hearts in for real money. Periscope will only take a $1 cut. Effectively, it's a spin on Twitch's cheers or YouTube's Super Chat. You're rewarding streamers you like and encouraging them to treat it as more of a business than a hobby.

Periscope will widen the program to more countries "as soon as we can."

The Super Broadcaster initiative is a way for Twitter to improve Periscope's viability as a business, but it's also a bid to prevent the brand from sharing Vine's ignominious fate. Vine was popular to the point where it had stars known primarily through their short looping clips, but there was no easy way for them to get paid. They eventually drifted to other, larger services where it was easier to rack up advertising deals. While Periscope's move won't necessarily stop some streamers from preferring services like Instagram (its 800 million-plus users are hard to ignore), it may be ideal for broadcasters who want to make an income from fan support rather than ad deals.