One thing that is common between new age live-stream apps like Meerkat & Periscope is that the only social part of it is in the comments section where people comment on your live-stream. The creators of Blab seems to have noticed that and decided to come up with a live-stream app that is sort of like Google Hangouts where several people can be in one live-stream where they talk about anything.
The service is in beta as clearly indicated when you log in to the website. Interestingly enough, you need to sign up with Twitter for an account.
After signing up with your Twitter account, you are greeted with a conspicuous “Start a new Blab” purple button at the top right and a timeline with the latest livestreams. When you click the button, it displays a pop up that requests the topic of your Blab, the category and whether you want to go live at the moment or in the future.
Blab is one livestream that is based yon a conversation so you can only go forward if there are 2 people or more who will engage in the discussion. There will be a link that you’ll share to a person(s) if you want them to engage in the discussion. A random person can also “call-in” to your Blab to join the livestream and you have the control to accept the call.
Another cool thing about Blab is that you can actually record the live-stream by clicking the record button but the recordings are capped at 6 hours maximum. There is also functionality to stop/pause the livestream but they will be cut from the final record. When the livestream session is over, you will be sent an email which has the audio, video and embed links of the livestream, which is a nice touch.
On the timeline, you can see what’s currently on air, accounts to subscribe to and also a neat feature to replay past live-streams. Also, within the live-streams, he audience can actually give “feels” to the people in the video chat, which are basically like Instagram “hearts” or Twitter’s “retweets” but shown with yellow hands that show the audience’s appreciation to the “panelists”.
Potential for Blab is big. The app is focused on live-streams that feature the “panel” and the viewers are, well the audience. Imagine scenarios where politicians using the app where the viewers ask questions to them, a panel of mentors can hold a Blab chat to interact with an audience, a panel of celebrities might hold a Blab to connect with their viewers, among others.
The only downside to it is that, just like other live-stream services, it needs a good network connection to benefit from it properly and of course no apps for iOS and Android. I’m pretty impressed nonetheless and I recommend you to check it out!
