The new battle waging between Facebook and Twitter is over video, and Facebook Live has seen significant updates in the last month that amp up its broadcast prowess, including opening the door to streams from drones.
Not to be outdone, Twitter's Periscope is introducing... the exact same thing. Plus a few other upgrades, including search and saving beyond 24 hours.
Drones, of course, are the coolest of the three, so let's start there. In the coming weeks, Periscope will let anyone with a supported DJI drone and an iPhone stream a bird's eye view to the watching world.
Periscope will pull the drone feed automatically once you hook up your iPhone to your drone's remote, and users can narrate and sketch over the broadcast if they like.
Supported drones are the DJI Inspire, Phantom 4, Phantom 3 Professional or Advanced. If you own one of these, streaming offers an entirely new way to enjoy your drone.
Twitter is beating Facebook to the punch when it comes to drone streams, so it's worth watching how many people start broadcasting their fly-overs before they take off on the larger social network.
Search and save
Periscope is also introducing broadcast search, allowing users to type in titles or topics they're interested in and find related streams.
A tap on the search button in the Global List will pull up suggested streams to dip into, including #Travel, #Music and #Food.
If you want to join the conversation around a particular subject, just select the Broadcast button in the search results or use the appropriate hashtag in your video title.
Two special topics - First Scope and GoPros and Drones - are currently in the testing lab. The first lets broadcasters welcome new streamers to Periscope, while the latter will include videos made with the titular products.
Periscope finished up today's news onslaught by announcing it will, by default, save broadcasts on the platform and Twitter in perpetuum. Anyone can re-watch the broadcast, complete with comments and hearts.
Users can still delete a broadcast if they choose to, and if saving a stream beyond 24 hours is just not something they're into, they can go into their settings to have the day-long limit remain.
This new #save feature will roll out in the next few weeks.
