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Monday, March 30, 2015

Entertainment Insider Access Live: Meerkat

John Biggs writes about Meerkat in a TechCrunch article titled, Schrödinger’s Meerkat, to make the reader feel stupid, even before s/he reads the article.

I disagree with every single thing John writes here.

Let's look at two things he says:

1. SMALL NUMBERS ARE MEANINGLESS
None of us, not even Jim Gaffigan with his million or so followers, can gather enough people with live video to make it meaningful.
Wrong.

Jim just live streamed with Meerkat on location while shooting a scene for his new TV show. This was one of the most creative uses of Meerkat I've seen yet.



This, along with Jimmy Fallon's live streaming of the monologue rehearsal for the Tonight Show, show how live streamed video can be meaningful.



2. LIVE VIDEO REQUIRES PLANNING
Live video is a very specific medium and requires a great deal of planning to pull off well. While we can complain of the dumbing-down of global media, unfettered live streaming is dumber still.
Wrong.

Live video doesn't have to planned for.

Questlove has been engaging his followers with un-planned live streams all around New York City, letting us in on rehearsal sessions, pre-parties, man on the street interviews, and more. When I get a notification that Questlove is streaming, I'm watching.



Al Roker is great to. A natural storyteller.



Follow me on Meerkat.

Q: After a meerkat or periscope goes off air is the old stream archived for later viewing?


Meerkat does not archive video for later viewing.

If you share or comment on a live stream with '#katch' a 3rd party will save an archive of your stream to their YouTube account, after confirming with you on twitter that you want to do this.

You can also save a Meerkat stream to your camera roll, if it doesn't crash on you.



Periscope saves online for 24 hours.

I like how I can still watch an ended broadcast 24 hours after you broadcast, if you choose to make it public.


Image: Periscope. Recent archived online streams.

Note: With Periscope you must watch on an iPhone.

Periscope does save to camera roll, if you choose to.


Image: Periscope. Saved to camera roll

Are Meerkat and Periscope Ready to Live Stream Events?

Meerkat and Periscope are not ready for live streaming events, reliably.


IMAGE: FLICKR, ANTHONY QUINTANO CC BY 2.0

Jimmy Fallon has used both to live stream his monologue rehearsals with mixed results. Both are great when they work, but leave the audience frustrated when they hang, stall, or just crash.



SNL tried to use Meerkat to live stream from backstage. It didn't work out so well.



Neither are reliable either for capturing an archive of an event. Meerkat has a third party that captures streams if you use the hashtag #Katch http://mashable.com/2015/03/22/katch-for-meerkat/ But that only works if Meerkat works.

You could use either of these apps, as long as the audience knows not to rely on them, and to actually go to the event if they want to be assured of seeing it.

The beauty of Meerkat and Periscope is that anyone can live stream, and connect with viewers, in real time. It's great fun to be able to see people and events from around the world. I loved watching concerts from SXSW, from Boston, and connecting with the live streamers, but, if you want to be ensured of a reliable broadcast, you've got to use a reliable platform.

Note to Jimmy Fallon: Keep experimenting with Periscope and Meerkat. ;-)

THINGS TO CONSIDER
I've done a lot of live streaming and there are many variables to consider.

- Experience with live streaming. When you go live, the person doing the live streaming has to have experience so that they can handle anything that comes up.

- Bandwidth at the Venue. Relying on WiFi is not a good idea. When the venue fills up with people, they get on the same WiFi and can cause problems for the live stream. A hardwired connection is best.

- Sound quality. Sound is more important than video. Make sure you have a solution for wiring the speakers so that the live stream audience can hear them. Shotgun mic, lav mis for each speaker with a switcher. These are things to think about.

- Video quality. Can the camera zoom in on speakers? Is it on a tripod?

If you do use live streaming with Google Hangouts to YouTube, here are YouTube's guidelines.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853701?hl=en&ref_topic=2853712

It means work.

If you want to capture each event for later, I suggest using a video camera at each venue to capture to SD card and upload to YouTube to Facebook later. That ensures a record of the event.

If you choose to do this, then it makes sense to have that camera hooked up to a laptop that is hardwired to the internet, has connections for capturing good audio at the event, and live streaming via that laptop with Wirecast for YouTube.



Robin Maxfield has figured out how to do this for her Story Slam events at Doyle's Cafe. Maybe she can give you some advice based on her experience.

Wirecast for YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/wc4ytlive

Finally, if you don't want to get involved in figuring all this out and making sure it works, hire a company that is experienced with live streaming to do it for you.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

How to Connect with People via Social Media. A Conversation At Regis College.

These are notes from a conversation I had with Communication students at Regis College on March 27, 2015 about how to connect with people via social media.



We talked about how I got started sharing stories, and how that developed into meeting people, and working with brands and destinations.

SHARING

I'm here.



People RETWETED my Instagram.



I met three students.

Who are they?

So going in to the class, I now had connections with three of the students. They got extra points for interacting with me.

Take a look at their twitter bios. Do they tell me enough about themselves to help my decision whether to follow them back? A blank bio does not help.

ADD DESCRIPTION TO YOUR TWITTER BIO

The lesson here, tell me about yourself in your twitter bio.

ADD A LINK TO A SITE THAT TELLS ME ABOUT YOU

Ex: AboutMe.com

Here's what my twitter profile looks like.



Here's my about.me page: about.me/stevegarfield




I STARTED BLOGGING IN 1997, Before BLOGGING



Steve Garfield Started Blogging on November 18, 1997 for the Karlson and McKenzie Morning radio show in Boston.

Karlson and McKenzie - PUT IN THE HOURS and WORK. FOLLOW YOUR PASSION.

I used to wake up at 3 AM to get into Boston at 3:30 to pull news stories, write jokes, and arrange guests for this morning radio show. Then at the end of the show at 9:30, I'd drive out to Framingham to work my regular 10 - 7 job.

It takes work to invest in following your interests. I loved radio and was a College and community DJ, and wanted to work in a professional radio station. I made it happen by hard work and long hours.

I WROTE JOKES FOR JAY LENO

One time a local comedian took a look at the jokes I was writing and said that I should be writing for Jay Leno.

I asked him, "How would I do that?"

He explained that Jay have what's called Fax Joke Writers, and you were required to send in 10 jokes a day via Fax. If Jay chose to use one on the monologue, you'd get paid. He made the introductions, and I signed a contract.

One of the jokes Jay used was this one:
President Clinton was greeted by rioting citizens in Greece, who set fire to local stores.

CLINTON WAS OVERHEARD AS SAYING, "THOSE GREECE FIRES ARE HARD TO PUT OUT."

VIDEO

VIDEO + BLOGGING = VIDEO BLOGGING 1/1/2004

In January of 2004 I branched out and started a video blog. I combined two things to make a new thing. This time it was VIDEO + BLOGGING.

It started as an experiment to figure out how to put video on a blog. I called it Steve Garfield's Video Blog and used it to learn, teach, and experiment with putting video online.

TEACHING and SHARING

As I learned more about how to put video online and share, I taught others how to do it in blog posts, class lectures at local colleges, and conferences.

JIMMY FALLON BEHIND THE SCENES



HELPING WITH COMMENTS

IT STARTED WITH A COMMENT ON HIS VIDEO BLOG

When Jimmy Fallon was planning his Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Show, he started a video blog, I made a helpful comment on his first post, he replied, then he asked for video, and I sent one in, and he shared it.

Our video blog posts.

CES



Then we met at CES and I interviewed him and his producer. Those interviews needed up in my book about video, Get Seen.

GET SEEN



Jimmy wrote the blurb on my book, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series):
"Steve Garfield is hilariously awesome. He gave us timely advice when we started our videoblog, and now he's put that advice and more into this ridiculously thorough guide."—JIMMY FALLON, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

THEY SEND ME CARS TO REVIEW



Car reviews on my blog.

SXSW ALL HAT and CHEVY

Chevy handled the sponsorship in a really great way, they got up to the microphone and said: "Hi everybody. We're Chevy and sponsoring this event, just wanted to say that we hope everybody has a great time."

I cheered that. When you're at SXSW, and, brands are just bombarding you with requests to pay attention, Chevy understands that by just being there, and available, is the best way to make a good impression. They also had a presence by placing their cars in front to the convention center each day, and by offering people free rides. I ended up having a nice chat with a few Chevy representatives.

A HISTORY OF TECH REVIEWS

Tech reviews on my blog. Actual hands-on reviews of products. The blog is a good place to have a record of everything I've written.

THE SUPER BOWL as a #VIPwithGMC

Most recently, GMC sent my wife and I to the Super Bowl as guests #VIPwithGMC.



I love it when a plan comes together. My three words for 2015 are Play, Fun, and Surprise.

In my New Year's resolution post, I put it out there that Carol and I would be interested in traveling more and sharing our experiences via social media in real time.

Well, that's what GMC was looking for when they selected us to take this trip. I think it also helped that I'm a big Patriots and auto fan, having reviewed GM cars in the past. ;-)

I followed up on twitter, to ask specifically why we were chosen for the trip and Craig Daitch replied with this tweet:





GOOD TIMES
The students liked the time I spent with them as much as I did.





WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING

START NOW

THINK GIVE FIRST, THEN GET

SHOW PEOPLE WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHAT YOUR INTERESTS ARE

PUT IN THE TIME AND WORK HARD

BE INTERESTED IN PEOPLE AND ENGAGE ONLINE

Friday, March 27, 2015

Fred Wilson says archives are key feature of live video streaming apps

@FredWilson says archives are key feature of live video streaming apps (like @AppMeerkat@YouNow@PeriscopeCo); in order to reach largest user base, apps should allow 'watch later' functionality in notifications for new streams; allows user personal archive selection in addition to public/'following' archives - Link

Twitter's Periscope Is Now Available in the App Store

Get Periscope. Get it via this link!





Description
Periscope lets you broadcast live video to the world. Going live will instantly notify your followers who can join, comment and send you hearts in real time. The more hearts you get, the higher they flutter on the screen.

Other features:
[+] REPLAY: When your broadcast is over, you can make it available for replay so viewers can watch later. Viewers can replay your broadcast with comments and hearts to relive the full experience. Replays currently last 24 hours. You can delete your replay at any time.
[+] PRIVATE: If you want to broadcast to specific people, press the lock icon before going live and choose who you want to invite to your broadcast.
[+] TWITTER: You can choose to share your Periscope broadcasts on Twitter by tapping the bird icon before you start broadcasting. When you go live, you’ll tweet a link so that your Twitter followers can watch on the web (or in the app)
[+] MANAGE NOTIFICATIONS: Periscope will suggest people for you to follow based on your Twitter network. You can always follow new people, or unfollow them if you don’t want to be notified when they go live. You can also adjust notification preferences in Periscope Settings (in Profile)
[+] HEARTS: Periscope keeps track of how many hearts you get from your viewers. The more hearts, the higher you get in the “Most Loved” list.
via Twitter’s Meerkat-Killer Livestreaming App Just Went Live

There will be room for two apps.

Some early feedback from me.







And put a visible icon on the screen, to switch the camera.

Thanks!

Also read: Up Periscope. Spending a Day with the iPhone's Newest Live Streaming App.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

You Can Embed Video from the Game of Thrones Facebook Page on Your Blog

Oh look, in addition to sharing your own video on the web, you can share other public videos.



Click the CHEVRON (∨) on the top right, then SELECT EMBED VIDEO. Copy the EMBED code and paste it on your blog.

Here it is.

Cool.

25 days.Rally the realm. Watch a new clip from #GoTSeason5.

Posted by Game of Thrones on Wednesday, March 18, 2015

You can shoot and share video on Twitter, from the app, then embed it elsewhere.


You Can Now Embed Facebook Video Outside of Facebook

Here's my Facebook video:

At the F8 Facebook Developer's Conference I just heard about a new feature that let's me embed Facebook videos elsewhere, this is a test of that. Starting with this Facebook video.

Posted by Steve Garfield on Wednesday, March 25, 2015

To Embed Facebook Video Outside of Facebook, here are the steps:

1. Upload Video to Facebook
2. Click on the PERMALINK of the Facebook post that has the video in it.
3. Click OPTIONS
4 Click EMBED VIDEO



5. COPY the embed code and PASTE it on your site



Additionally: EMBED VIDEO is also available from the Video's page in your Album.



This just in:

Embedded Video Player information from Facebook.

You Can Stream Live Video from an iPhone to an Xfinity X1 Box

This article explains how to use the 'Share by Comcast Labs' app for XFINITY on the X1 Entertainment Operating System: X1: Using the Share by Comcast Labs App.



Note: Xfinity Triple Play is required

I tried this, and tested out live streaming to my home Xfinity X1 box. You can also stream to others if you have their phone number or Comcast email.



I had to turn on notifications on the X1 box first, then when I started streaming from the iPhone, I accepted the live stream invite and watched.

It's easy.


Image: Streaming an image of my TV, Streaming an image of my TV, Streaming an image of my TV, ...

Some feedback:

Keep in mind this is a Beta release and lots of new features are planned.

Right now the app uses the back camera, it needs to add front facing camera.

I want to stream to multiple people at a time and have a show. ;-)

This could be the new public access TV.

It would be cool if there was a guide for people who are publicly live sharing. Do away with burdening the live streamer having to add email addresses.

Comcast is thinking too much about privacy and security.

Give me a SG TV page to stream live so that anyone can watch, on TV or the web.

#katch is the record button for Meerkat

Katch Kats: "Record Meerkats with one tweet! The #katch hashtag sends you an automagic YouTube link when the stream ends. (Processing time varies) ❤️ @seenco"

They tested their system on my morning Meerkast walk around Jamaica Pond.



It's funny because in the Meerkast, Someone asks me about this, and I reply that I ewouldn't want someone taking my content and making money off ads.

But, once my stream ended and I saved it, only 3 minutes of it was saved, and Katch Kats saved the whole thing on YouTube for me, so I was happy about that. Plus, it saved me the effort of having to upload to YouTube.

I'll give them credit for jumping in and doing this.

Sunday, March 08, 2015

The Road to SXSW 2015 with me and CC Chapman​ on Meerkat and G+ Hangouts On Air

Watch the archive of me and CC Chapman talk about things to do at SXSW 2015 on Monday March 16th.

See what I did there?

YouTube Archive:


Excerpt of the Meerkat stream:




CC joined me on G+ and we also streamed live on Meerkat, because it's the thing to do.

CC and I shared tips for SXSW and our top picks for daytime sessions and events, and evening events and parties. We've been to SXSW for more years than we can remember, so we know stuff.
This was the promo:

Friday, March 06, 2015

The Road to SXSW 2015 with me and Raul Colon​ on Meerkat and G+ Hangouts On Air

Raul Colon​ and I chatted about The Road to SXSW 2015 3/7 at 2:00 ET.



The Pre-Show was at 1:30 ET.


Image: Meerkat Screenshot

A TWO PERSON TALK SHOW ON MEERKAT via G+
I started up the live stream on both Meerkat and G+, and brought Raul on as a guest on G+. Then I pointed the iPhone, runningMeerkat, at the G+ Hangout, and we now were broadcasting a two person talk show on Meerkat, with me in Boston and Raul in Puerto Rico.

As you can see from the image we had 51 watching on Meerkat. That got up to a high of 66. Amazing. Over on G+ we had 1 viewer. This shows the power of the new platform to easily bring in viewers.

We gave tips and talked about sessions, events, and parties for SXSW days 3/14 and 3/15.

It was a great experience.

ARCHIVED VIDEOS
Here's the YouTube Archive:

Also on YouTube.



Below is the Meerkat archive, uploaded to YouTube, with BONUS post-show chat.

In it I showed Raul what the Meerkat screen looked like when streaming:


Image: Meerkat Screen

MEERKAT ARCHIVED VIDEO:

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Watching @keyinfluencer stream live on @AppMeerkat while driving past Turner in Atlanta



Crazy times.

I know we've done this before, but this time with Meerkat if feels faster, more connected, and easier.