Periscope Update Adds Doodling, More Viewer Statistics In Twitter's Effort To Beat Facebook Live

Wishing you could broadcast yourself with anyone or anything? With Twitter’s Periscope, you can, granted you have some creative talent. Periscope released an update this week that lets broadcasters doodle on top of their live videos.

Drawing on photos dates back to Web 1.0 with options like Microsoft Paint, but it has been making a comeback across popular social apps. Facebook and Snapchat both let users doodle on photos.

Snapchat has had a pen tool for several years on its app, which has for some been a simple creative outlet and for others been a full-time gig. Companies have hired Snapchat influencers to create content for marketing campaigns and paid between hundreds to thousands of dollars per photo or video. Facebook introduced the ability to add texts and drawings to its photos from within the app in May 2015.

For Periscope, the update is another way to spur engagement on an app that has the potential to crumble under the activity on Facebook’s live-streaming product. “We're thrilled to introduce a new way to express yourself while broadcasting on Periscope. Now you can sketch on the screen,” the app update reads.

The update also included more statistics for broadcasters. Periscope users can see a graph of their viewers over time to be able to identify where their video has the most viewership. Facebook Live already has this feature.

But Twitter is touting its brand recognition as a real-time, live experience, and in February, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said live video is his company’s number-two priority. “We’ve been doing live for ten years and we believe we have a leadership potential in it…we have a leadership position in it,” Dorsey said Tuesday, with a quick slip.

Yet as Twitter struggles to impress investors with its user numbers and revenue, Facebook is handing over checks to celebrities and media publishers to create live video within its ecosystem. Facebook is paying $250,000 for 20 live video posts per month, BuzzFeed reported.

Periscope is beating Facebook Live on one front: revenue. Facebook has yet to introduce advertising into the feature, while Twitter allows companies to pay to promote their Periscope feeds within Twitter.

“We have seen incredible creativity recently, with marketers taking advantage of the Periscope option in Twitter,” Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer Adam Bain told investors Tuesday.