Twitter Unveils Tool For Regulating Comments On Periscope

Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) yesterday announced a novel moderation tool designed to curb spam and abusive comments in Periscope broadcasts.

Periscope was formed in 2014 for enabling the easy sharing of live video broadcasts through a smartphone. However, the company did not have any means to regulate the comments on these broadcasts in real time.

The new tool allows viewers to report any untoward comment in real time, which would then be opened for voting to a few randomly selected live viewers who can help the company gauge whether it is indeed offensive.

As the Twitter blog puts it "One of the unique things about Periscope is that you're often interacting with people you don't know; that immediate intimacy is what makes it such a captivating experience. But that intimacy can also be vulnerability if strangers post abusive comments. Broadcasters have always been able to moderate commenters in their broadcast, but we've now created a transparent tool that allows the collective actions of viewers to help moderate bad actors as well."

Periscope has developed this tool in a way that transparency across all users (i.e, broadcaster, commenter and moderators) is maintained.

We believe that this feature is an important move for Twitter as Periscope is one of its most important offerings and would likely be a key growth driver for the company.

Just last week, a report from Axiom Capital termed Periscope as an "underappreciated" opportunity. The analyst went on to say that the number of views per live video on Periscope is much more than social media giant Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) . In such a scenario, Periscope can become a meaningful contributor to Twitter’s revenues. .

For the time being, enhancing security does seem to be a commendable measure and would likely result in improved user experience for Periscope.

Twitter currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the sector include Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM) and Castlight Health, Inc. (NYSE:CSLT) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).