Twitter bought a live-video streaming company
If you follow the Twitter crowd closely, you've probably seen a growing number of people using Meerkat, a mobile app that helps you share your daily exploits on live video. Well, Twitter has too -- the company just confirmed that it recently acquired Periscope, a startup built around live streaming. Twitter isn't saying just why it made the move, but it made a big deal of planning more standalone apps back in November. This would be a complement to services like Vine that lets Twitter offer Meerkat-like video, but with more control over how it's presented. It's easy to see the internet giant making a fuss over live feeds at special events, or finding a way to integrate streams with those all-important ads. Whatever the long-term goal may be, it won't be surprising if you soon find a lot more as-it-happens footage in your social stream.
