Meerkat’s New ‘Cameo’ Feature Takes Video Messaging a Step Further

Today, the company announced its newest partnership with Facebook, allowing users to sign up to the app using their Facebook profiles as opposed to Twitter, something the app originally required when it was launched.

Released today, the company describes its latest update as its “biggest yet and the first big implementation of our vision for participatory media, and it is a lot of fun”.

Once the viewer has accepted, he or she can take over the stream for up to one minute. However, it’s the collaborative cameo feature which is likely to get the most attention.

Meerkat said its new “Cameo” feature will allow stream viewers, once approved by the main broadcaster, to take over a stream and broadcast themselves for up to 60 seconds.

That could be useful for question and answer sessions, or simply to host a discussion forum. Any time a friend or Page you follow starts a live stream, Meerkat will automatically notify you. It also suggests that because friends of the person making the Cameo appearance may end up watching a stream of somebody they normally wouldn’t have tuned into, the app will become more interactive.

Meerkat is keen to point out that it won’t be posting to your Facebook profile itself, however. According to the company’s blog post, “just go to meerkatapp.co/username and login to manage your private saved streams history”.