As someone who works in innovation and talks about it a lot, I love new technology and trends. With the rise (and quick fall) of live streaming apps like Meerkat, we tend to get caught up in the hype and noise, thinking live streaming Is the future.
And it probably isn’t. Live streaming has been around for years, and now, just because Facebook and Twitter said so, it’s supposed to take off? Let’s face it. No one really cares about you that much - despite the many followers you have.
I have a huge amount of respect for vloggers. Seven or so years ago, as a young teenager, I worked closely with ‘talent’ to sign them to networks. The success of blogging boils down to one core ingredient - storytelling with authenticity. The shaky camera and sub-standard audio add to the authenticity and connects with it’s audience - a trick traditional broadcasting has been desperate to achieve.
But live streaming removes much of the 'story'. Yes, you keep authenticity, but lose any sense of 'story'. It’s taught in media studies and film schools internationally, that editing is one of, if not, the most important aspect in film making. It shapes the content, gives it direction, a beginning, a middle, and an end.
YouTube star Casey Neistat spoke at Vidcon 2016 on this very matter. He summed up the point of live streaming as the number 2.1. What he meant is that live streaming is good for two and a bit things; breaking news, sports and the 0.1 is gaming. We don’t quite know that.
But the proof of this is beginning to show. Products like Meerkat were quick to become yesterdays forgotten news. On the other hand, Twitch, which sold to Amazon for $1bn in August 2014, is showing no signs of slowing down, and continues to grow.
There’s a reason that TV is a dying format. People no longer want to schedule their lives around a TV guide. Years ago, your favourite programme aired for 22 minutes every week. And you could only watch it at that time. Now, stations are frantically moving to on-demand services. It begs the question... "why go back towards the old ways?"
Let’s embrace the new!
