Periscope new update: Twitter testing Periscope live-streaming button inside their proprietary app

Facebook is heaping focus on live video with an entirely dedicated tab for streams, which prioritizes in-the-moment broadcasts, so it's no surprise to see that Twitter is fighting back in the streaming war with an integration between Periscope, its live-streaming platform, and the Twitter mobile apps.

In what the company told The Verge is a test, a small number of Twitter for Android users have a 'Go Live' button alongside existing media options, such as record video or attach image, when they create a tweet. Those with the app already installed on their phone are directed to Periscope when they click button, all others are sent to the app store where they can download the live-streaming app. "Over time, all users will have the ability to start a Periscope broadcast from Twitter," the company told us in a statement.

The move makes a lot of sense, and frankly it is somewhat surprisingly that it has taken so long to come about. Twitter acquired Periscope a year ago and, like Vine - the other standalone app it runs - it has given the team a degree of independence away from the mothership. But, with Facebook doubling down on live streaming with its user base of over 1.65 billion, Twitter needs to explore synergies. Facebook may have a larger user base, but it still remains to be seen whether the social network can adapt to live videos, which are a hugely different proposition to perusing a timeline full of updates accumulated over days. Twitter, however, is more adept to real-time, but its 310 million user base is far smaller. Beyond redirecting users to another app with this integration, it'll be interesting to see if Twitter explores a more seamless, straight-to-broadcast, option inside the Twitter app in the future - because Facebook is already doing that.