Periscope broadcast: A hybrid of two platforms

Periscope broadcasts start autoplaying (minus sound) in Twitter profiles, timelines, and individual tweets. (It’s not yet available for Moments.) The changes, which were sneaked into the last update of the Twitter for iOS app, are rolling out globally now. In-line broadcasts will be coming to Android and the web later, the company says.

In-line Periscopes are designed to look like a hybrid between the two platforms. Tap a video in the stream and it will expand and begin to play sound. You can view the comments and hearts inside a broadcast on Twitter, but if you want to comment or send hearts yourself you’ll have to tap a button to open it inside Periscope.

At the same time, you can interact with the broadcasts the same way you can with other tweets: liking them, retweeting them, or replying to them. That last one is important: Periscope broadcasts are limited to 100 commenters; Twitter replies mean that big broadcasters are likely to hear directly from more viewers.

However obvious it may be, integration has been a top user request for months-the tighter integration between Twitter and Periscope is likely to benefit both platforms. Twitter gets a more vibrant timeline, and Periscope gets a powerful new source of potential downloads.