Why I Use Facebook vs Why I Use Periscope

Facebook and Periscope are both social media sites. However, that is where the similarities end. Facebook is more about connecting with people you know. It is about messaging friends, posting thoughts, and sharing family photos. We can see what our childhood friends are up to, or if our crush is single or not. Periscope, on the other hand is about connecting with complete strangers. One person records themselves doing whatever it is they want to do. People from around the world can choose to click on the video and leave comments that last 3 seconds long, or they can press the screen to leave hearts.

I recently got into this site called Periscope. I only signed up for an account with Periscope to see one video. However, once on there I actually found the site very entertaining, and if the right people are on, very addicting. I wasn’t able to fall asleep one night and watched a few of the people’s Periscope ideas out of curiosity. The first video I clicked on was a man from England taking his dog for a morning walk. People that saw the video also got to see the sunrise live as he saw it. I found it to be super interesting, not only to see how another person stared their day but it was also, lovely to see some landmarks and parts of England live. The second video I clicked on was a guy drawing silly pictures. If we commented our names he would draw a face that he though went with the face. The commentary he gave while drawing and the music he had playing in the background made it a very entertaining and a funny stream to watch. The third video was of a lady from Brussels. She was Pericoping live from the airport that was attacked. She showed the viewers as she and a group of people rushed out of the airport. Of course we didn’t see the actual attack as it happened live, but viewers of this lady’s periscope that day saw part of history happing live.

There are all types of Periscopes, people pulling pranks, people telling jokes, seminars, people’s daily lives, and events they are attending. This is a very different form Facebook in the way that you are connecting with strangers. I think it is curios how others live their lives or what is happing somewhere else that makes this sight interesting. On this sight there was also a lot of people doing Q’ & A’s. One man titled his Periscope “what it is like to be black in Japan”, and another titled his “Ask me questions, I’m Muslim and live in Palestine”. I watched both for a while and they were very interesting, and through this site you can ask the type of questions you always wanted to know.

Facebook on the other hand, is completely different. I use this site to see what my friends who moved far away are doing. I have friends Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Malaysia, so I find Facebook most useful when trying to connect with them. I also share funny pictures and videos with my family and friends through Facebook all the time, it really catches my attention. I find Facebook very addicting, and although I don’t use it as much as I used to I still love logging on to see what everyone is sharing. I find that Facebook used to be more about sharing your thoughts. Now it's slowly moving throwers sharing other people’s photos or memes. However, what keeps me coming back is the hope that I see some exciting news from one of my friend’s posts. Like last week my friend posted that the baby she was having was a girl through Facebook and it was so sweet to see all of the love she received through the comment section.