SOCIAL
Twitter Confirms the Shutdown of its Separate Periscope App in March 2021

It comes as little surprise, especially given speculation about the app’s future after a discovery in Twitter’s back-end code last week. But today, Periscope has confirmed it:
Some personal news: the Periscope app will be going away next year. We’re here to say goodbye. ????
We appreciate all the support, learnings, and broadcasts from our vibrant creator community. More on our difficult decision to discontinue the app: https://t.co/jZWjDlsRHk (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Kfgvocq31O
— Periscope (@PeriscopeCo) December 15, 2020
Yes, Periscope, one of the original apps of the 2015 live-stream boom is going away. Superceded by native streaming within Twitter, and seeing declining usage, Twitter says that it can no longer justify supporting the separate app:
“The Periscope app is in an unsustainable maintenance-mode state, and has been for a while. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen declining usage and know that the cost to support the app will only continue to go up over time.”
As a result, Periscope will go into retirement as of March 2021, while no one will be able to create a new account as of the latest app update.
“Broadcasts that were shared to Twitter will live on as replays, and all broadcasters will be able to download an archive of their Periscope broadcasts and data before the app is removed in March 2021.”
Functionally, this won’t mean a lot. As Twitter notes, users can still go live on Twitter, but they won’t have a dedicated space to store their past streams. Instead, your broadcasts will only live within the tweet, but it seems likely that Twitter will also, eventually, look to integrate live-streaming into its new Fleets option.
That scenario was given a further boost last week, when Twitter announced that it had acquired group live-streaming app Squad, which enables group chat members to share their screen during the broadcast.

The Squad app was immediately shut down after the acquisition, which likely suggests that it will re-appear soon within Twitter, and you would assume that would be within Fleets.
That could point to new opportunities for Fleets, like a new archive for your Fleets, where your live-streams would also be placed. Twitter also just signed a new hosting deal with Amazon Web Services to expand its capacity on this front, so definitely, live-streaming will remain within the Twitter app. But Periscope itself won’t be part of it.
Which, as we noted last week, is a little sad. For a short while, after the arrival of Meerkat, live-streaming was alive, it was a refreshing new spin on social media, which everyone seemed genuinely excited about. That excitement, however, didn’t last, and most of those original boom apps eventually died out, including Meerkat, Blab and several others.
Now Periscope joins them in the great app resting place in the clouds. Or de cloud, more specifically.
The announcement was widely speculated after app whispering legend Jane Manchun Wong noted a single line of code within the Twitter app last week.
This text found inside Twitter’s app indicates the shutdown notice might be shown in future versions of the Periscope app, directing users to a FAQ page about the app pic.twitter.com/gGrNNxRLL7
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 11, 2020
From that text, Wong deducted that Periscope was a goner, and a week later she was (once again) proven correct. Wong’s dedication and diligence to finding such notes has seen her earn a reputation as the leading expert in reverse engineering apps, often giving us the heads up weeks, even months in advance of new features. We have repeatedly referred to Wong’s discoveries in our reporting, and this update, once again, underlines the value of her work.
So, Periscope will soon be no more – goodbye to hearts and Super Hearts and that pale blue background.

If you have any Periscope broadcasts that you want to save, you should get on it now, while you can find out more about the pending shutdown of the app här.
SOCIAL
Meta Publishes New Report on the Increasing Consumer Reliance on Business Messaging

Messaging has become an increasingly important connective tool for many businesses and consumers, with more than 20 billion messages now sent between people and brands on Messenger alone every month. It’s convenient, generally sees quick response, and is available within the apps that people are already comfortable with for their direct interactions. In fact, 64% of people now say they would prefer to message rather than call a business.
With this in mind, Meta recently partnered with de Boston Consulting Group on a survey of more than 6,500 respondents across the APAC region, in order to glean more insight into how APAC users are looking to use messaging for brand queries, and how businesses can better align with these shifts.
The 29-page report, which you can download här, includes a range of valuable insights into the importance, and value, of messaging interactions. Here’s a look at some of the key notes:
First off, the report looks at the growing adoption of business messaging, and how that’s changed throughout the pandemic.
The global lockdowns led to a significant boost in eCommerce activity, and as such, it’s little surprise to see the reliance on business messaging rise in recent years. But that’s also a key trend of note for brands – as more consumers conduct more of their interactions via messaging, and other online means, that, in turn, increases their expectation of the same options from other businesses.
The report also provides a somewhat surprising look at how often people are messaging with brands:

That’s a lot of activity, which seems more impactful than the raw numbers, in terms of messaging volume. A lot of consumers are interacting with brands every other day, so it’s not just that they’re using this as a supplementary connection channel, it’s fast becoming an essential connector for businesses.
The report also looks at the different ways in which brands can use messaging within their process:


As well as the key pain points for consumers when messaging with brands:

There are some interesting insights here, worth factoring into your planning. Really, if you’re not offering direct messaging as a connective option, or optimizing for it, you’re likely missing out. And while this data is APAC specific, most of these trends would likely hold in other regions as well, which could give you some food for thought for your planning, particularly as we head into the holiday sales push.
You can download Meta’s full ‘Business Messaging: The Quiet Channel Revolution across Tech’ report här.