MEERKAT - ACCESS ALL AREAS

Curiosity might have killed the cat, but it won't kill Meerkats...

(Note: this post was originally written Friday 13th March, accidentally deleted and posted again Tuesday 24th March)

There's an old saying, "Curiosity Killed the Cat"; however, being curious is quite safe now with the Meerkat app.

So, in addition to Tweeters, Snap Chatterers, YouTubers, Googlers we now have Meerkats, people using the new Meerkat app with the 1.0.1 version launched here in the UK on Monday 10 March 2015, developed by Ben Rubin Co-Founder and CEO of Air.

I first heard about the app only a day after the launch on Tuesday 11 March from my friend an award winning Photojournalist and Filmmaker John D. McHugh who spent a number of years reporting the from the war in Afghanistan from the front lines. John stated this app is a major game-changer, and I agree.

Meerkat's biggest impact will without a doubt have a huge impact for the News industry, especially with real-time reporting. Rory Cellan-Jones (left) the Technology Correspondent at BBC News, was already using the app just four days after its public launch in the UK live streaming an event outside BBC's Broadcasting House to promote the Red Nose Day event for the charity Comic Relief.

Last night, Thursday 12 March, protestors in Ferguson Missouri were doing a live stream of the protests. Meanwhile and in stark contrast, Michele Weisman of Likeable Media was at a bar in New York live streaming her Thursday night out with friends with people tuning in from Australia.

Anthony Quintano Social Media Manager for the @TODAYShow was kindly sharing his food,virtually, from the SXSW event in Austin Texas. He wanted to take a photo of his food so tech savvy LA Times travel writer Jennifer Leo wrote a tip in real-time on how take a screen shot whilst streaming, as did I on the iPad.

Early adopters of Meerkat, mainly Social Media Strategists, are clearly in a rush to be inventive to come up with new disruptive ways to use the app, and the possibilities are endless.

Guy Kawasaki has already jumped in broadcasting a Livestream or "MEERKAST" from Meerkat for a presentation titled "Tomorrow! The Art of Social Media"; this will undoubtedly be Meerkat's first major Meerkast and huge endorsement of the platform.

However, there are many live livestreaming platforms available, including Google Hangouts, which has been available for over two years. Why didn't Google's solution create the same buzz as Meerkat? Google is a massive company with vast resources, human, financial and technical, so one would assume Google would get it right. So why has Ben Rubin got Meerkat so right with such a small startup team of just 10 people?

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo da Vinci

Meerkat is easy to use, you tap or click the #Meerkat hashtag for a Meerkast on Twitter then open to it in a browser, or on the iPhone or iPad app. Admittedly the app is still in it's early days and needs a lot of refinement, but it will go far. And if you have the app you simply stream with the front facing and main camera on your iPhone or iPad. Using Twitter to register on Meerkat was a smart move as it's an instant seamless process.

The app shows the locations, has interactive chat, tweets all comments to twitter, has a leaderboard to pamper the egos of those at the top, and of course you can like a Meerkast. One of the best features is being able to schedule a Meerkast, but most of all it's a low latency app. Most off all Meerkat enables a great deal of transparency in a number of ways, including who's watching the Meerkast. One nice thing about the app is that as the broadcaster you can save the video of your live-stream to your iPhone or iPad.

However, data usage will be a major issue if not using the app on a WiFi network. Another issue could be censorship, which can either be a pro or a con, depending on your point of view, as a live-stream can't be censored.

"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" - Andy Warhol, 1968

YouTube has created a generation of celebrity Vloggers. So it is very likely the world will have a new generation of Meerkats. It will be interesting to see the kinds of scenarios Meerkat is used in. Meerkasting from conflict zones will be brought to a whole new level, and it will definitely be interesting to see how the app is used to report the fight in the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq; as for being infamous, ISIS will find a way to use Meerkat. Meerkat will be used, whether its for fame or infamy.

What are Marketing People scheming for the Meerkat Dollar?

Marketing people are probably holding urgent brainstorming sessions and strategy planning meetings on how to use Meerkat, competing to be the first to make Meerkat an advertising platform and take the fun out of it for ordinary users, with locations based advertising, getting influencers on social media to promote their brands and shopping missions, what they're eating, where they're drinking and dancing, what people are wearing and other contrived uses.

One can expect the Adult Entertainment industry to jump on the Meerkat bandwagon somehow, once they figure out monetisation.

How will "Meerkats" use Meerkat?

The launch of Meerkat coincided nicely with the annual SXSW event in Austin Texas, where the app is making waves. Tara Hunt Audience Development Director at TCTotem was Meerkasting Hootsuite's House luncheon, showing new tech, which is nice for those of less fortunate and unable to attend SXSW.

Live reviews will be a good use, weddings, sports games, fashion shows, events and conferences, my favourite will be concerts in other countries, especially concerts by bands in the US who don't get to make it over to the other side of the pond here in England.

The UK General Elections in May will be an excellent and interesting trial run and a pre-cursor for use in the run up to the US Presidential Elections in 2016. Politics is an area where there can be huge impact, both for the politicians and the voting public.

The Rock group Steel Panther, who have a strong following on social media, will be definitely push the envelope to Meerkast their outrageous shows.

Usage with GoPro would be an excellent way to use Meerkat especially for adventure sports.

One interesting use is consumers Meerkast their complaints on customer service at a supermarket, commuters showing delays in traffic and public transport. Meerkat will definitely play a huge role in consumer complaints, forcing companies to provide better goods and services; dealing with queues at supermarkets comes to mind.

Meerkat will definitely UP THE ANTE on WiFi and Data bandwidth at venues if hundreds or even thousands of people are Meerkasting all at once.

Perhaps even Meerkast the shenanigans of actual cute little Meerkats on a safari in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa; that would be my favourite.

With the Big Boys Now

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo are most definitely all lining up to acquire Meerkat, even though they can easily develop a similar tool. But, it's the brand and the velocity at which matters in this case. Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion Dollars in February 2014. The you 24-year old Ben Rubin can probably be assured that any acquisition price for his first app will exceed that of WhatsApp, assuming he decides to sell. Ben should be very chuffed with himself, so should his team. Either way, whether or not Ben sells Meerkat, he will be very comfortable and will go onto be involved with other successful ventures.

Ben Rubin will be speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt New York between 4-6 May, where he will reveal future plans for Meerkat and hopefully, his talk will be Meerkast on his creation.