AOL boss Tim Armstrong just broadcast an internal company meeting on Periscope
Armstrong sent an email to all AOL employees on Thursday, instructing them to download Periscope "in the next 20 minutes." He told everyone to follow him on Periscope, ending his email with "talk to you all soon."
But before Armstrong had his big appearance, he sent a test Periscope:
It was a quick, shaky video of the carpet at AOL HQ. But then it was time for the big moment. All AOL employees were supposed to watch Armstrong's Periscope.
Armstrong went live, and a woman behind the phone counted down. Then he turned around and faced the camera (which was the wrong way round).
He started talking about new meetings that company was holding with customers, and AOL's new ad platform. It looked like people enjoyed what Armstrong was saying, as he was getting a lot of hearts.
Some AOL employees left comments on the Periscope stream to express their support.
But the trouble with hosting internal meetings on Periscope is that anyone browsing Periscope can stumble upon the meeting. This Periscope user seemed confused:
Armstrong did pretty well on Periscope. He now has 2,261 hearts, which shows that people really liked what he said.
We double-checked with AOL whether Armstrong knew that his meeting was public. Yes, it said, "he tried something new and gave the update over periscope ... in the spirit of testing."