I remember watching old reruns of I Love Lucy in the 1980’s and seeing Lucy on the phone that was attached to a long thick black cord. I was so glad that I wasn’t on the phone with a cord like that—I had my twisty cord and felt so contemporary! While watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s, I wished I had a cell phone that Will Smith used. It was big and lanky but hey, it didn’t have a cord!
Fast forward and we see all sorts of new wireless gadgets that can do just about everything but cook dinner - I am sure that is coming. Technology is moving exponentially and what we invent today, in some cases is obsolete in months. That is why staying on top of technology trends is crucial. Currently, a long term trend that is catching on is livestreaming.
With evolving smartphone technology coupled with pixelated high definition quality camera technology, the world is able to come alive in real time. Livestreaming is cornering the social media heat. Excitingly, the big players want in on the action: Facebook Live, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube. “Live is like having a TV camera in your pocket. Anyone with a phone now has the power to broadcast to anyone in the world,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page. “This is a big shift in how we communicate, and it’s going to create new opportunities for people to come together.”
We have seen evidence of the rapid acceleration of Livestreaming use via Periscope (bought by Twitter) and Younow.
Periscope About Us /Our Story: "Just over a year ago we became fascinated by the idea of discovering the world through someone else’s eyes. What if you could see through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine? Or watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia? It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation. While there are many ways to discover events and places, we realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around."
Twitter's Periscope which was named iPhone app of the year by Apple on Dec 9, 2015 (from Wikipedia): “Periscope users have the option to tweet out a link to their Live Stream. They can also choose whether or not to make their video public or viewable to only certain users. Scopes can be LBB (Limited by Broadcaster) which disallows comments.
Periscope allows viewers to send "hearts" to the broadcaster by tapping on the mobile screen as a form of appreciation. Up to 500 hearts can be given per session and users can log out and log back in to give more hearts. The maximum number of users that can be followed is 8,000.”
Live video is the new selfie. "Broadcasters" get to broadcast their lives in a myriad of ways.
From talking to dancing to singing, there's no normal limit to what can be broadcast.
Welcome to the culture of narcissism 2.0 or is it 9.0?
Generations continue to evolve technologically speaking and the real difference is the size of the available audience. Social media has altered the world perception and more specifically livestreaming is giving an immersive perception in the moment.
A closer look at Younow (from Wikipedia):
"YouNow is a live webcast service where users stream their own live video content or interact with the video streams of other users in real time. The service is available on its website and on
Android and
iOS apps.
As of August 2015 the service handles 150,000 broadcasts each day.
The majority of the users of YouNow are under 24 years old. Many users perform music or dance, others talk or make jokes. There was some media attention in 2015 on a number of users who film themselves sleeping. A tag-based topic system enables viewers to browse content of their choice, while trending streams enable users to locate more popular webcasters.
It runs a partner program through which popular broadcasters can earn money. Virtual goods bought by viewers are used to acclaim videos; the resulting revenue is split between YouNow and the video creator, with about 60% going to the latter."
One of the challenges with mobile social media has been the inability to convert to a robust revenue/profitability model.
YouNow has created a digital tipping model which does 2 important things, namely, create content and promote digital superstars through social media Darwinism.
Today's social media users between the ages of 15-24 have moved past daddy's social media and rather than look at snapshots or stale videos, they prefer seeing what's happening not only ‘at the moment but in the moment’. Livestreaming is here to stay and the stakes are high -- valuations run into billions of dollars.
I have recently become familiar with a public company getting ready to launch a novel livestreaming platform with a disruptive paradigm that will rival the juggernauts: Younow, Snapchat and Periscope. I will be unravelling the story in the coming months– as Ricky Ricardo would say, ‘you got some splainin’ to do’.
With all of this to consider, please visit our site at www.JuniorGoldReport.com and sign up for your FREE newsletter and stay informed in the junior mining space.
Happy Investing!
Kal Kotecha PhD
Editor of the Junior Gold Report
email:
kal@juniorgoldreport.com
website:
www.juniorgoldreport.com
Kal Kotecha, PhD, is the editor and founder of the Junior Gold Report, a publication about small cap mining stocks that is read and enjoyed by thousands of investors. He was the editor and creator of the Moly/Gold Report, which focused on critical analyses and open journalism of companies profiting from the precious and base metals sector. The scope of his current activities include worldwide onsite analyses and reporting of developing companies. Kal has previously held leadership positions with many junior mining companies. After completing his MBA in Finance in 2007, Kal completed his PhD in Business Administration in January 2016. His thesis was on the Affective Heuristics of the 2008 stock market crash. He also lectures Economics at the University of Waterloo and Niagara College where he was voted Professor of the Year 2013/2014. Contact: kal@JuniorGoldReport.com