PR Week: Twitter’s Big 360 Livestream Reveals Little Splash

by Aaron Gordon

PRWeekSchwartz Media Strategies’ Partner, Aaron Gordon, responds to PR Week about why Twitter’s launch of 360 livestreaming didn’t make the impact it should have.

by Sean Czarnecki

 

The social media platform joins the likes of Facebook and YouTube, which have already launched their own 360 livestreaming video features, albeit on a limited basis.

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter has been strangely reticent in its launch of a 360-degree livestreaming video tool via its subsidiary Periscope.

The soft launch of Twitter 360 livestreaming video was made during the holidays through a pair of blog posts by Periscope and Twitter exec Alessandro Sabatelli, hired by the company in June as director of VR and AR. The launch is allowing only a “small group of partners,” including well-known Periscoper Alex Pettitt, to test the new feature.

Twitter investor Chris Sacca blogged several months ago that the platform was failing in telling its own story, and with YouTube not yet fully integrated and Facebook still not fully accessible, Twitter had a chance to steal a march on 360 livestreaming. But it has a steep path to traverse.

“Twitter has an opportunity to break through if it can figure out how to make the experience seamless and integrate it into the existing platform,” said Aaron Gordon, partner at Schwartz Media Strategies.

For Schwartz’s Gordon, the launch “left a lot to be desired,” given the competitiveness of the social media space.

Aaron headshotGordon explained a more effective strategy would be to have a big announcement laying out in clear detail what technology Twitter offers, how accessible it is, how many influencer and brand partners it has, and how “it will change how people consume entertainment and live events.”

“Now, they’re just dipping their toes in the water,” Gordon added. “If they had time on their side and unlimited funds, they should be launching in partnership with a major licensing or brand partner. How great would it have been if their big break was launching a 360 livestream experience with the SuperBowl? Or the inauguration?”

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