Facebook Live — the Downfall of Periscope (and the Revolution of News Broadcast?)

With the introduction of Facebook Live, a feature which allows you to stream live videos to your audience, Twitter’s Periscope was most likely to lose it’s popularity. Not that it was that popular to begin with, but just as Facebook changed our understanding of social networks and basically beat all it’s opponents, it’s only a matter of time until Periscope will be laid to rest.

Although Facebook Live also allows individual users to stream live, which in my opinion is bound to become annoying, it has the potential to change news broadcasting entirely. As news companies already have (multiple) accounts on Facebook and usually an enormous reach, the live feature might over time replace news magazines (online and print) and daily broadcasting. News whenever they happen, unfiltered and accessible wherever you want. Maybe Facebook will even start their own news department but let’s rather not think about the consequences.

It is frustrating and terrifying though that Facebook is powerful enough to take almost every idea and make it their own, isn’t it? But who knows, as it looks now, we might as well have forgotten all about Facebook and get our news via Pokémon Go in a couple years time.