Social Media
Meerkat
Meerkat was the live-streaming app that took over SXSW 2015, and it ran on Twitter's social graph. Weeks in, Twitter cut off that access with about two hours' notice, bought and promoted a rival called Periscope, and Meerkat was finished within months.
Narrative
The story
The ambition
Meerkat wanted to make live video as easy as a tweet. Launched in February 2015 by Ben Rubin's company Life on Air, it let anyone broadcast live from their phone and let viewers tweet at the stream in real time. At the South by Southwest festival in March 2015 it became the breakout app of the moment, the thing every founder, journalist, and celebrity was suddenly using.
The rise
Its growth engine was Twitter. New users signed in with their Twitter account and automatically followed everyone they already followed there, so an audience appeared instantly, and broadcasts spread through tweets. That tight integration is what made Meerkat go viral at SXSW.
The cracks
It also made Meerkat completely dependent on a company that was about to become its competitor. On 13 March 2015, the same day Twitter confirmed it had acquired the rival live-streaming app Periscope. Twitter cut off Meerkat's access to its social graph. New users could no longer auto-follow their Twitter connections, and Meerkat's viral loop was gone. By Rubin's account, Twitter gave only about two hours' notice.
The collapse
Twitter then put its full weight behind Periscope: it launched the app publicly on 26 March 2015, promoted it over Meerkat, and pressed celebrities and publishers to drop Meerkat. Within weeks Periscope had overtaken it, by one measure Meerkat's reach fell as Periscope's climbed past it, and Meerkat's momentum, and its roughly two million users, drained away.
The aftermath
Meerkat tried a developer platform and new features, but the live-streaming space it had opened was being taken by a better-distributed rival and, soon after, by Facebook Live. In October 2016 the app was pulled from the app stores as its makers pivoted to an entirely different product, the group video-chat app Houseparty.
The lessons
If your growth depends on a platform, that platform can end you, especially once it decides to compete. Meerkat's viral rise and its collapse came from the same source: Twitter's social graph, which it did not own and could be cut off from with a phone call. Building the core of your product on someone else's platform means the owner sets the terms, keeps the best distribution for itself, and can switch you off the moment your success threatens its own.
Causal timeline
Failure Anatomy
- 2015-03
The breakout app of SXSW
Launched in February 2015 by Ben Rubin's Life on Air, Meerkat let anyone live-stream from their phone and broke out virally at SXSW in March 2015. [1]
- 2015-03
Powered by Twitter
New users auto-followed their Twitter connections and broadcasts spread via tweets, a viral loop that ran entirely on Twitter's social graph. [2]
Platform dependency - 2015-03-13
The kill call
On 13 March 2015, the day it confirmed acquiring Periscope, Twitter cut Meerkat's social-graph access, reportedly with ~2 hours' notice, ending its auto-follow growth. [3]
Platform dependencyStronger competitor - 2015-04
Periscope pulls ahead
Twitter launched Periscope publicly on 26 March 2015, promoted it over Meerkat, and pressed creators to drop Meerkat; within weeks Periscope overtook it. [4]
Stronger competitor - 2016-10
Discontinued
With ~$12M from Greylock and ~2M users, Meerkat lost momentum; in October 2016 the app was pulled from stores as its makers pivoted to Houseparty. [5]
Structured analysis
What Went Wrong
Root causes
Growth built on Twitter's graph. Meerkat's viral loop, auto-following a user's Twitter connections, ran entirely on Twitter's social graph, which it did not control. [2]
The platform became the competitor. Twitter cut Meerkat's social-graph access the same day it confirmed acquiring the rival Periscope, then promoted Periscope hard against Meerkat. [3] [4]
Immediate trigger
Twitter cuts the social graph. On 13 March 2015 Twitter cut Meerkat's access to its social graph (reportedly with ~2 hours' notice), removing its auto-follow growth mechanism. [3]
Visible symptoms
Periscope overtakes it. Within weeks of the cutoff, Twitter's Periscope overtook Meerkat in users as Twitter promoted it and pressed creators to drop Meerkat. [4]
Warning signs
A rival owned the platform. Meerkat's entire growth mechanism depended on Twitter, which was simultaneously moving into live streaming itself. [2] [3]
Affected groups
Evidence
Claims & sources
Every numbered marker in the analysis links to the claim it rests on, and each claim to its sources.
- [1]
Meerkat was a live-video-streaming app launched in February 2015 by Ben Rubin's company Life on Air, which broke out virally at the South by Southwest festival in March 2015.
- [2]
Meerkat's viral growth depended on Twitter, new users signed in with Twitter and automatically followed everyone they already followed there, and broadcasts spread through tweets.
- [3]
On 13 March 2015, the same day Twitter confirmed acquiring the competing app Periscope, Twitter cut Meerkat's access to its social graph, removing its auto-follow growth mechanism, and by founder Ben Rubin's account gave only about two hours' notice.
- [4]
Twitter then promoted Periscope hard, launching it publicly on 26 March 2015, pushing it over Meerkat, and pressing celebrities and publishers to drop Meerkat, and within weeks Periscope had overtaken Meerkat in users.
Moderate Reported explanation Meerkat Founder On Getting The Kill Call From Twitter Twitter's Periscope Widens Lead Over Rival Meerkat - [5]
Meerkat's momentum faded, it had raised about $12 million from Greylock and had roughly two million users, and in October 2016 the app was withdrawn from the app stores as its makers pivoted to a different video app, Houseparty.
Sources
Meerkat (app) (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
Twitter Starts Breaking Meerkat Features By Limiting Social Graph Access
TechCrunch · 2015-03-13
Twitter's Periscope Widens Lead Over Rival Meerkat
TechCrunch · 2015-04-16
Meerkat Founder On Getting The Kill Call From Twitter
TechCrunch · 2015-05-06