It was only a matter of time. Periscope live streams (and recordings) can now be played right inside of Twitter – from the timeline. This presents more opportunities for businesses to gain visibility and better utilize this tool, which has continued to grow in popularity of the the past year.

Have you tested the Periscope waters yet? Do you expect to in the future? Let us know in the comments.

For now, the functionality is only available in the Twitter iOS app (rolling out over the next few days). It will come to Android and the web soon.

This should go a long way toward increasing views for streams and catch the attention of more Twitter users in general, who may just have not paid a lot of attention to Periscope in the first place.

The feature is huge for broadcasters, and if you use Periscope for business or marketing purposes, it’s particularly important. In fact, it’s likely that streams within Twitter will encourage more businesses and professionals to use it for such purposes.

“For broadcasters, this means you can reach the massive Twitter audience,” says Periscope in a blog post. “And for everyone on Twitter, there’s now a richer experience in your home timeline, search results, and on anyone’s profile who’s shared a Periscope.”

Whereas before, users would just see a link from a tweet, they’ll now just see the the actual video. When the user taps a video, it goes full-screen and shows Periscope comments and hearts from other viewers. No Periscope app or account is needed to view.

“Imagine scrolling through Twitter, reading about Mitch Oates’ underwater adventures. You suddenly find yourself peering through a hole in your timeline out into his world, via his live broadcast. This adds a whole new dimension to Twitter.”

According to Twitter, since Periscope launched last year, people have created over 100 million live broadcasts.

So what can businesses and marketers get out of Periscope?

“Brands can forge a more personal relationship with consumers by using Periscope to give them real-time access to moments that matter, from big announcements to fashion shows to sponsored events,” said Ross Hoffman, Twitter’s Head of Brand Strategy. “In April, @Target used Periscope to tease its Lilly Pulitzer line, an effort that helped fuel huge consumer demand: 90% of the collection sold out in a few days.”

According to Twitter, you should use Periscope for creative cross-platform stories, product launches and announcements, special promotions, customer education, VIP access, everyday moments, and/or key moments, such as events that align with their brand.

According to the company, you need to choose the right content, create anticipation, “be real,” be responsive, make the most of your content, and evaluate and optimize. To create anticipation, it suggests sending promoted tweets about upcoming streams a few days in advance and sharing the link on Twitter once it broadcast starts. In terms of “being real,” skip the rehearsals and scripts in favor of an “unpolished performance”.

When they say to be responsive, the mean to engage in the discussion with viewers who are sending questions in comments throughout the broadcast. Engage with them in real time.

Last fall, Periscope got some other helpful features that it didn’t have at launch. Web profiles were added in September. enabling people to go to periscope.tv/username to see all recent broadcasts from that user. This should help those wanting to promote streams, as they can just give audiences their profile to tell them where to find them.

In October, Periscope gave websites a way to let visitors know when they’re broadcasting. There’s an “On Air” button that comes in large and small sizes. It displays the user’s live status and username. When the user clicks the button it will open a new window displaying the profile page.

Periscope said 40 years of video are watched every day, and that was back in August. If you’re not paying attention to Periscope yet, you might want to reconsider.

Do you see Periscope as a major marketing tool? What are some ways you’ve used it? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Images via Twitter/Periscope