New technology didn't keep U.S. House members from sharing the inside look into what really happened during the gun control vote early this week. When C-Span's supposedly live feed was unsuccessful, some Democrats members took to using Twitter's Periscope on their smartphones, Fortune reported.
Periscope's live-streaming service came in handy while C-Span was trying to get its series of updates aired, after the network's media channels went dark as U.S. House members discussing on protests over gun control began. The gun control legislative session was an urgent directive to close in on a decision post-Orlando shootings, and other forms of gun violence.
The gun control protest was already in talks again as of Wednesday this week, following Georgia representative John Lewis' comments on Congress' lack of action on limiting all forms of gun violence. To make matters even for everyone, he invited other U.S. House members to a sit-in until they all agreed on a vote.
Meanwhile, C-Span's vice-president on programming Terry Murphy hadn't expected covering the House sit-in via social media feeds like Twitter's Periscope and Facebook Live, the New York Times reported. He said that they had to broadcast the session as live as possible, even doing the cover for about 24 hours.
Periscope chief executive and co-founder Kayvon Beykpour stated in an interview that the tool was their way of giving a "voice to the voiceless". The company also revealed that as of Wednesday late afternoon, user views had reached more than a million times after video streams shared by Rep. Eric Swalwell and Scott Peters of the sit-in had been embedded online.
Beykpour further explained that Periscope was the company's contribution to show the people the truth from a variety of perspectives. "In this case, it's really ironic that the voiceless were our elected representatives," continued Beykpour.
