The arrival of Meerkat and Periscope led to a rash of stories in the mainstream press about the impending flood of filth on the new live streaming platforms.
But in the world of cam girls (and boys, and all points in between) performing on camera for the internet isn’t novel and these new consumer apps aren’t all that appealing.
I asked Shirley Lara, COO at Chaturbate (NSFW), one of the Web’s most popular cam sites, about Meerkat, Periscope and Snapchat, all of which have pretty strict though frequently flouted terms forbidding adult content. It’s safe to say she’s delighted:
It’s okay that these services are so strong on explicit content. It’s okay that they crack down. We like it because if people want to see the good stuff, they have to come to our site. I don’t want Snapchat to be competition for us!
For now, cam performers have mainly stayed away from Periscope and Meerkat, leaving the nudity to unpaid exhibitionists. Snapchat has been popular though, despite the service’s attempts to shut cam girls down. Lara says:
Snapchat is a way for performers to invite their fans more into their personal lives. We feel like it’s a tool for them to build their fanbases. A lot of girls sell access to their Snapchat account for Chaturbate tokens [Ed: the site’s virtual currency].
