For years, the rap on Twitter was that it wasn’t changing with the times, or evolving in any meaningful way.
With its tail feathers up against the wall, however, that appears to be
changing.
Indeed, amid reports that Twitter is ready
to give up its defining 140-character limit, the company has decided to embed live streaming Periscope broadcasts directly into tweets.
“Periscope broadcasts in Twitter timelines offer a
new way to experience the world,” Periscope co-founder and CEO Kayvon Beykpour notes in a new
blog post.
Needless to say, the integration of live streaming is guaranteed to change the equation for content creators and consumers.
The written word has its place, for sure. But, as
we’ve seen across digital platforms, video -- and live video especially -- engages viewers on a far deeper level.
In part, that explains the success of video-based platforms like
Snapchat, and efforts by Facebook and other social giants to get on the
bandwagon.
While clearly intended to cultivate broader audiences, what these changes mean for Twitter is not at all clear, however. It’s entirely possible that they could turn off core
users, while failing to lure new ones.
In a sort of philosophical thought experiment, you might even ask: What is Twitter without character restraints, or any text at all?
The answer
remains to be seen, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that real change is the only option left for Twitter.