Facebook Live, Periscope have big U.S. political moment with House sit-in
The time-honored way of watching democracy slowly unfold — with the cable box set to C-SPAN and its wide-angled views of the House and Senate floors — may be headed for the history books after millions tuned into Facebook and Periscope live-video streams to follow an overnight protest by House Democrats.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook Live broadcasts by 19 members of Congress engaged in the sit-in protest were watched 3 million times.
Facebook "Live is unfiltered and real," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post Thursday. "It's bringing us moments we wouldn't see otherwise – from birthday parties to locker room celebrations to late-night sessions in the United States Capitol."
Twitter-owned Periscope, in a fierce rivalry with Facebook over live video views, said over 1 million people saw the tweets Congressmen Scott Peters (D-Ca.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Ca.) sent with links to the Periscope broadcasts of the protests. The hashtags used to describe the Democratic sit in — #NoBillNoBreak and #HoldTheFloor — have been tweeted 1.4 million times since the sit-in.
Democrats staged the 25 hour sit-in after the Senate rejected four gun control proposals earlier in the week, in the wake of the massacre in an Orlando nightclub.
'ACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE'
House Democrats took to social media to live-stream their protest after cameras in the House press gallery that feed C-SPAN's broadcast were turned off. In keeping with House policy, they went dark after Wednesday's legislative meeting had ended when Speaker Paul Ryan adjourned it.
Although House rules prohibit members of Congress from taking videos or pictures on the House floor, Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, said his live-stream was an act of civil disobedience, like the sit-in itself. C-SPAN began running O'Rourke's Facebook Live stream on its own broadcast, and he said he received 10,000 incoming messages an hour at points throughout the night.
O'Rourke said the live-stream was "so new to the American public — it was something authentic and raw and honest. And I think that is what helped turn people on."
Facebook has been making a huge push into live video after a limited offering captivated early users, rolling out new features and placing the Live broadcasts at a priority position in the mobile app. The company says users watch live videos three times longer than other videos and comment 10 times more on live videos. One of its most popular — a Facebook live video of Candace Payne laughing in her car with a Chewbacca mask — reached over 157 million views
That's made it a tough competitor to early-mover Periscope, which in turn has been pushing out its own improvements, such as a save feature and a Periscope broadcast from the Twitter app. The service, bought by Twitter last year, made a similar leap into the public consciousness when people who paid for the pricey Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao boxing match streamed it to thousands of freeloading boxing fans.
Peters, the Democrat Congressman, told USA TODAY he used Periscope for the first time during the sit in, and was “amazed” by the intensity and volume of support he received immediately after on social media. Periscope was also able to get viewers and up close and personal view of the sit-in, unlike the wide angle, distant view on C-SPAN.
How C-SPAN is skirting the House TV blackout on Democrats' sit-in
PERISCOPE, ON TV
C-SPAN itself is changing. Communications director Howard Mortman noted that since its mission is to "connect Americans with Congress, with the government," it chose to broadcast the live-streams.
“Anyone watching could see the difference in the high quality CSPAN-produced look versus the live-streams, but also the raw feel presented a compelling story around what was happening in Congress," he said.
The House protest also marks the first significant time that Periscope and Facebook Live were used by politicians and in a display of political activism, according Jennifer Stromer-Galley, professor of information studies at Syracuse University and author of Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age. Stromer-Galley said Periscope and Facebook Live also reached audiences C-SPAN could not have, since users were able to share the video with their friends online.
“It does show the power of these video streams to let people in on what’s happening,” she said in an interview. “It signals to politicians that social media is more than just a tweet, it’s more than just a way to get your supporters to write you another check, but it can be used in the service of political activism in pretty important ways.”