Facebook is trying to blow a key Twitter acquisition out of the water
Periscope, like Live Videos, is a live-streaming service - although it is a standalone app, rather than included as a feature within Twitter. The company was created in 2014, and acquired by Twitter in January 2015 for a rumoured $50 million (£33 million)-plus - before the app had even launched. It was finally released to the public in March 2016.
And Twitter should know better than most how fickle users can be. Earlier this year, much hullabaloo was made about Meerkat, a streaming app that raised $12 million (£7.9 million) in funding in early March 2015. But after Periscope launched, Meerkat dropped off a cliff. Over the last month, more than ten times as many people have sent tweets indicating they're live-streaming on Periscope rather than Meerkat, according to data from Topsy.