A standalone camera app from Facebook?
According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is developing a new app to broadcast live videos, like Twitter’s Periscope. It should also include photo features similar to Snapchat.
This new app should be rolled out in order to encourage users to create and share more videos. Indeed, nowadays Facebook users share less content on the platform.
Contacted by WSJ, a Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment on this app. However, she said that the overall level of sharing on Facebook was strong but “similar to levels in prior years.”
Facebook is developing a stand-alone camera app to encourage its users to create—and share—more photos and videos https://t.co/C3PJ4mile7
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 25, 2016
Two new features on Periscope
Following the huge development of Facebook Live, Twitter has launched two new features for its live streaming app Periscope.
First, Periscope added the tool ‘Sketching’, which allows users to draw anything on their live video in real-time. Similar to Snapchat.
Secondly, Periscope has also rolled out a new statistics feature to show how many total views the broadcast had, as well as a graph that shows the overall trend.
⚡️???????????? Sketch while you Scope – now available on iOS! pic.twitter.com/k5JgViBnkO
— Periscope (@periscopeco) April 27, 2016
Dig deeper into your broadcasts with a live viewer graph and improved stats on iOS! ???????? pic.twitter.com/WDABAn2lLW
— Periscope (@periscopeco) April 27, 2016
Twitter Q1 2016
This week, Twitter reported its Q1 2016 results, offering good and bad news. First, the social platform now counts 310 million montly active users, a growth of around 3% in the last year (304 million MAUs in Q1 2015) with only 6 million new users. However in the US, the number of users has remained the same for a year, 65 million.
In terms of revenues, Twitter’s woes continue. The company posted revenues of $595 million between January and March, against $710 million in Q4 2015, but it’s better than one year ago with $436 million in Q1 2015. Finally, the worst news yet: Twitter acknowledges a net loss of $80 million this quarter.
Facebook Q1 2016
Following Twitter, Facebook has also unveiled its performance for the first quarter of the year. Every day, around 1,1 billion users are connecting on Facebook, including 990 million on mobile. Monthly, the social giant counts 1,65 billion users against 310 million for Twitter.
In terms of revenue, Facebook hits around $5,4 billion against $3,5 billion in the same period in 2015. 82% of Facebook’s earnings come from mobile, a growth of 73% in the last year.
These figures show us the gap between Facebook and Twitter and it should increase more and more in the next coming months. 
