into a sensation last year is ready to introduce
its next act,” said Casey Newton in
TheVerge.com. Meerkat, which caused a
splash at South by Southwest in 2015 before
being eclipsed by Facebook Live and Twitterowned
Periscope, has a new app for group
video chatting, called Houseparty. The app
has quietly attracted roughly 1 million users
on Android and iOS, most of them young
people, after launching under a pseudonym
not tied to the Meerkat name. Houseparty
“encourages users to have frequent, candid
conversations.” Friends and family are notified
when you are live, “or as the company
now says, ‘in the house.’” Up to seven people
can join the chat. Now, the question “is that
same one that dogged Meerkat: Can it last?”
