Twitter and politics go hand in hand, but the latest announcement by the company is still a bit of a surprise: Twitter will livestream both the Republican and Democratic national conventions as they happen over the coming weeks, through a partnership with CBS News.
You’ll be able to watch the streams on both mobile devices and the Web using Twitter’s new Live platform. Recently testing the tool with the Wimbledon tournament, the set up is fairly similar manner to other livestreaming services, with a video on the left or top, and a series of adjoining tweets with a relevant hashtag.
To be clear, this isn’t a Periscope stream. It’s odd that Twitter wouldn’t use its own platform made specifically for livestreams, but the choice is probably because Twitter is simply better known. Deeper integration would still be nice to see, however.
Nonetheless, it’s a move that makes a ton of sense for Twitter. Politicians already have spats on the platform. Live, public commentary by celebrities, journalist, and everyday people – before it hits mass media – has always always been Twitter’s strength.
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Given you needn’t have a Twitter account to watch the livestreams, it’s a good way to onboard new users onto the platform too. No word exactly on how you’ll be able to find the streams, but we assume they’ll show up under Twitter Moments, and that links will be tweeted by the official Twitter account.
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