Meerkat, the video streaming startup, is adding Facebook integration following Twitter’s actions to restrict the app’s popularity. The latest update, rolling out on iOS now with an update to the Android beta likely to follow, effectively frees the live video broadcasting service from Twitter entirely, making the linking of a Twitter name to an account an extra social networking option rather than core to its operation.
Users will be able to post details about their live streams to Facebook from today, reports VentureBeat. Weeks ago, Twitter restricted the app’s ability to share new broadcasts on Twitter, something the microblogging service has a history of doing to popular apps. The biggest of which is the treatment of the Facebook-owned Instagram, with Twitter restricting the ability to view Instagram images and videos from within the feed itself, while allowing its similar Vine service and its own photo service to run unrestricted.
An example Facebook update for Meerkat broadcasts
Other features have also been included in the update. In order to find more Meerkat users, the app can search through the phone contacts to find friends or colleagues to add to the broadcast list, making it easier for the user to discover more streams generated by their friends. Popular streams that “meet a certain criteria” will automatically get pushed to the main activity feed, in a function Meerkat calls “Mobbing.” Lastly, viewers can transmit their feelings to the broadcaster’s screen, by temporarily replacing their face with a single emoji.
