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Periscope Twitter Jack Dorsey

Medium's Evan Hansen joins Periscope as editor-in-chief

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

May 3, 2016 | 2 min read

Twitter has signalled its desire to up the ante on real-time content, announcing that it has tapped Medium's head of content labs, Evan Hansen, as editor-in-chief of livestreaming service Periscope.

Evan Hansen Medium

Announcing his departure from the blogging site via a post on the platform, the executive said: "Medium keeps evolving and growing and I’ve been privileged to be here from close to the start. It’s been a fantastic opportunity and challenge, and now I’m thrilled to say I’m poised to take on a new one.

"I’m joining Periscope as editor-in-chief. I still love the written word and Medium, but I honestly can’t think of many things more exciting than helping build a new platform with mobile phones and real-time video."

Hansen arrived at Medium, which was set up by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, in 2013. Prior to joining he was editor-in-chief at Wired magazine.

The hire hints that Periscope is looking to editorialise its output in a bid to stave off competition from other real-time services like Facebook Live, and follows on from Twitter repositioning itself as a news platform in the App Store.

Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey was keen to highlight Twitter's plans to focus on live video during the social network's earnings call last week, saying it wanted to capitalise on "deepening engagement" around the streams.

Periscope Twitter Jack Dorsey

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