By Queenie Wong
San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Live video streaming could be the next big social media craze, and Twitter has thrown its hat into the ring.
The social network confirmed Friday that in January it purchased Periscope, a San Francisco startup that is creating a live video streaming app that hasn’t publicly launched yet.
“You may have heard some news: It involves a blue bird. #YouCanGuessTheRest #WeJoinedTheFlockInJanuary …,” Periscope tweeted and Twitter retweeted.
A Twitter spokeswoman said that the company had nothing else to share beyond what the startup tweeted, including when Periscope will launch its app, but to “stay tuned.”
Several news agencies have reported the deal was for slightly less than $100 million, but Twitter on Friday would not confirm that amount. An email to Periscope was not returned.
As live video streaming becomes more popular, Periscope could rival Meerkat, a new mobile app that also allows users to stream live video from their phones to their Twitter followers. Meerkat launched on Feb. 27 and already has been growing in popularity on Twitter.
Since Meerkat is new and Periscope hasn’t launched its app yet, analysts say it’s too early to tell if live video apps are here to stay or simply a fad.
“The reality is this isn’t something we’ve seen huge consumer adoption of yet, but when it comes to getting more (Twitter) users it might be time for a Hail Mary,” said Nate Elliott, an analyst at Forrester Research.
In the fourth quarter, Twitter reported sales of $479 million, beating analysts expectations. But the company, which had 288 million people logged into the service at least once a month during that period, has struggled to attract new users.
Elliott said that acquiring Periscope is a good sign that Twitter is trying to introduce new features to attract more people to the website.
“Whether it’s going to work, we have no idea at this point. Just them thinking about it is a big step forward,” he said.
Periscope says that it’s building a product that “lets you see the world in real time through someone else’s eyes.” But because the company is still beta testing, it hasn’t released details about the new app.
The company, which has eight employees listed on its website but is also hiring, was founded last year by Stanford University graduate Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein.
This isn’t the first video startup that Twitter has purchased before it’s publicly launched its app. In 2012, Twitter bought Vine, which allows users to record short looping video clips.
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