Twitter Curbs Meerkat's Piggybacking On Social Network

Last week we reported on an unexpected startup called Meerkat that let you livestream not over YouTube but over Twitter. It was a rather ambitious and daring business and we wondered if it would eventually run afoul of Twitter. That it did and its time in the spotlight might have been short-lived. The social networking giant has confirmed that it has just limited Meerkat's access to Twitter's social graph, removing one of the features that actually made Meerkat far more interesting than you usual livestreaming wnnabe.

It's probably not the case that Twitter didn't want Meerkat to build up on its social networking brand. After all, more (positive) exposure meant better business for Twitter. The problem was actually because of how Meerkat actually used the social network's features. More than just simply tweeting about a Meerkat livestream on Twitter, Meerkat actually utilized Twitter's own social graph to build up its own network of users. In essence, this allows Meerkat users to have access to and connect to their Twitter followers almost automatically and right within Meerket. In practice, this meant they almost wouldn't need to leave Meerkat just to connect to their Twitter friends.

That is definitely not something Twitter wants, as its behavior towards third party Twitter clients continue to prove. But while it can't really shutdown Meerkat, it can limit its powers by imposing restrictions on how much of that social graph it can get its hands on. Users can still login or sign up using their Twitter accounts and announce their broadcasts on Twitter, which all benefits Twitter of course. But that key convenience feature of building up your Twitter network on Meerkat is, for now, gone.

There might be one other reason why Twitter is stunting Meerkat's growth. Two days ago it purchased Periscope, a similar livestreaming service that is now bound to be Twitter's bet, though it still isn't certain whether Twitter will allow recording and saving of livestreams, something Meerkat expressly doesn't. Depending on whose view of the events, either Meerkat preempted Twitter's acquisition announcement or it had Twitter scrambling to get a livestreaming feature of its own, under its own control.

Meerkat fans need not mourn the death of the service just yet. Founder Ben Rubin claims that he wasn't surprised by Twitter's reaction, though he was disappointed, of course. He does have a Plan B, which he has yet to reveal. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with that won't earn him a second slap on the wrist from Twitter.

VIA: BuzzFeed