I am not a video person. Most of you who connect with me online know that I very rarely ever do public videos. I’m not comfortable on camera for some reason. You could put me in front of a crowd of 500 people to talk about something and I’m all good, but online…nope. I think it’s because the internet is mean a lot of the time and it can be a bit detractor from doing videos.

I’ve been really open in the past about why I don’t do them, but in the last 10 months or so I’ve been doing them A LOT…you just don’t know about it if you’re not one of my students or clients.

When I was teaching the first Cosmic Wisdom Camp session last September I discovered super quick that it was way easier for me to answer all the questions people had in a weekly video than trying to follow and answer 20 question threads on Facebook.

Needless to say, I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with it. However there was still one problem. I hated how trying to do a video for my blog made me feel like I was talking to air. I didn’t know if anyone was going to watch or if anyone would respond in the comments about the video, so it was still a little discouraging.

 

Enter Periscope!

Periscope is an interactive, live streaming video app for your phone or tablet. It’s currently available for iOS and Android, however people can watch the streams on the web, they just can’t interact with the broadcaster {yet…I’m hoping that changes in the future}.

Anyone can use the app to broadcast to the world what they’re doing, talk about whatever they’re thinking, all while interacting with people who watch through a chat stream.

This is awesome for bloggers and biz peeps but it’s cool for anyone who wants to just reach out and interact with people around the world on different topics, whether you’re a broadcaster or a viewer.

The videos on Periscope are available for replay for up to 24 hours. So like other streaming mobile apps the videos don’t live on in infamy on the web, however broadcasters have the option to save their scopes {that’s what a broadcast is known as} so they can re-purpose them and put them on their websites, on YouTube, or wherever they want.

In the roughly three weeks I’ve been on Periscope I have really come to love it. At first it was wicked rocky. I had to quickly learn how to block people. Yes, there are creepers on Periscope. But as a broadcaster it’s easy to block someone from watching and commenting on your scopes so they don’t disrupt your flow.

 

What’s with the hearts?

OK, this is something I’ve discovered from a little research that a lot of people still getting a handle with Periscope don’t understand. When you’re watching a scope on your device {you can’t do it on the web}, either live or in a replay, you can give the broadcaster “hearts”. You see them blow up over on the right side of the screen.

I love seeing all the different colors and I love when they blow up like a love volcano from the corner of the screen.

You give hearts when you’re into what the person’s talking about and you’re enjoying the scope. You just tap away anywhere on your screen and each tap gives them one heart. The heart color is based on the color you automatically are assigned when you join the scope {there’s no way to pick a color}.

Hearts matter for broadcasters for a few reasons.

It let’s the scoper know you’re enjoying the discussion. It motivates them to keep going and stay on chatting. The hearts are also a sort of Periscope ranking system. It’s the social currency of Periscope, as it were.

The more hearts a scoper acquires the higher ranked they become with Periscope which means they will become a suggested person to watch/follow for people. From what I’ve read in a few places this is also how people get their broadcasts to show up on the “discovery map”.

It also let’s new people discovering a broadcaster’s profile that people really love what they do and it will encourage them to watch and follow them to see their broadcasts.

So don’t be stingy with your hearts! If you’re going to tap once because you’re enjoying someone, tap 50 times or 100 times!  You can give up to 500 hearts each time you’re in a broadcast. But you can always pop out and pop back in and give 500 more if you want to!

 

Chatting and Sharing is how the community grows!

When you’re in a broadcast you can chat in the little chatbox at the bottom but what you really what to do, what your broadcaster will love you for, and some will give you a shout out for, is if you share the broadcast with your followers on Periscope and Twitter. It doesn’t matter if you have 2 or 2000 followers. Sharing gets you love and grows community!

You simply tap the little person icon at the bottom right of the screen and click share!

 

So, why is Periscope worth getting on?

If you’re a babe with a biz or a blog? This is a great way to connect with your readers and peeps and find new ones! You can get instant feedback on projects and ideas you have about how you want to help your community.

It’s also important because it will help blow up your know, like and trust factor that you have to have in your biz.

But this isn’t just for people with a biz. If you just want to watch, there’s a big reason to be on Periscope. Instant connection with the people you love.

Imagine you have a coach or teacher you already follow on social media. You read their blog, you’re on their email list, you follow their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But you can’t work with them 1-on-1 right now because they charge thousands of dollars for an hour of their time. You just have one burning question you’d love their help with.

Are they on Periscope? Yes? Connect with them! You can get an answer or a little guidance on your question and get more connected with them for nothing.

 

I’m super passionate about this for one big reason.

In the few weeks I’ve been on there I’ve been following a small group of people {about 50ish right now} and most of the coaches and spiritual babes I’ve following aren’t scoping. They maybe have one one or two and aren’t consistent with it. However, the people that are consistent who are blowing up my phone with alerts letting me know they’re live on Periscope are all now doing “Periscope marketing”…which is cool…as someone with a biz it’s important to know how to leverage all your social media. But when it’s a 24/7 “How to make money on Periscope” fest, I gotta be honest. It’s BORING! I’m staying to unfollow people because I’m getting tired of 10 notifications a day about the latest chat about making money with Periscope.

But these people are blowing up! They have thousands of followers in no time, some with a million+ hearts, and it’s crazy because it’s just the same song over and over on a daily basis.

So why can’t we do something similar and talk about some higher vibrational, much needed wisdom?

Why can’t we use Periscope to spread a different kind of wealth…wealth of heart and spirit?

How about “How to make more magic with Periscope” or “How to find more soul with Periscope”?

Basically I don’t want to see Periscope become nothing more than a place B2B connections. {i.e. business to business} I want Periscope to be a place for S2S connections! {i.e. soul to soul}

What’s been interesting is finding that there are actually a lot pf people I’ve talked to in the spiritual community who have said they don’t want Periscope and aren’t interested in it. Personally I think that’s pretty unfortunate. This is proving to be a super powerful platform to connect with people on, and that’s what we’re all about, right? Connecting with each other? You can connect through Periscope far more and far better than Facebook, for example.

 

So here’s what I want you to do.

:heavy_check_mark: Download Periscope today. It’s free so if you have an iOS or Android phone or tablet there’s no excuse.

:heavy_check_mark: Sign up. You can connect Periscope to your Twitter account or you can create a fresh account with your email address. The bonus to signing up with your Twitter account is you’ll automatically see a list of all the people you follow on Twitter who are also using Periscope, making it easy to find relevant people to follow straight away.

:heavy_check_mark: Connect with me on Periscope. If we’re already connected on Twitter you should see me in your list of who you’re following on Twitter. To see this list you click on the little person icon down in the bottom right of your screen.  If you don’t see me or you sign up without Twitter you can search my user name, jessjcarlson. Then click “Follow” to connect with me. You’ll get a notification of when I’m on live.

:heavy_check_mark: Watch my scopes, give me hearts + share my stuff when you’re live in my broadcast. Not because I’m looking for your adoration and attention but because I want to spread something special around Periscope. I want to spread some magic and spirit and soul. I want to encourage more of the #SpiritBabeBrigade to get out there and shine bright and connect with others who are shining.

That’s your mission!

Right now my mission and the intention I have set is this:

I’ll be on Periscope at least once a day every day during the month of July. Today is the 2nd and I’ve actually already been on twice today. But my intention is to be there connecting, chatting and helping people on a daily basis, giving value and love and support to those that come to connect with me.

My other intention is to gain 1K connections by the end of the month. Once I break that 1K barrier all will roll fast and easy.

And when I hit the 1K point I’m going to do a special something JUST for my follower list {because you can also do private broadcasts, while I’ll be doing soon where only people who have chosen to follow me will be invited to watch a scope}. I don’t know what the special thing will be, though I’m thinking possibly some live magic for those who get invited.

 

So get on it, babes!  I’ll be seeing you out in Periland real soon!