#omniveillance

Livestation is an aggregator of live user-generated content from around the globe. Its CEO Lippe Oosterhof explains that, while the technology for livestreaming has been around for about ten years, the technology has only just matured to the point where it's becoming widespread: "This idea of broadcasting live from a mobile device has been around for ten years. [But now with] push alerts, you know instantly when someone is live. Another reason is the capability of the devices coupled with the ubiquity of the 4G networks." Additionally, he argues, the livestreaming apps that existed prior to Meerkat and Periscope missed something fundamental about how people use their smartphones, something that Snapchat was the first to zone in on: "There’s a big distinction between Periscope and Meerkat and the other apps that never got to be mainstream successful. That’s vertical [video]. Everyone missed the point; that’s how people hold their devices."  But more than anything, he says, those other apps lacked the most vital reason for why people are choosing to use livestreaming apps - they allow immediate interactivity between the broadcaster and their audience: "This content is interactive. The livestreaming element is just an enabler. All the other apps were not able to do that.