Yesterday, Yahoo, Inc.-owned social blogging site Tumblr teased that it would be unveiling a new live video feature this week, and today that feature has arrived with a few unexpected surprises.

When Tumblr said it would be offering live video, the obvious prediction would be that it would go down the route of Facebook Live or Periscope, but it turns out that Tumblr had no intention of building its own video platform. Instead, the new video feature is built off of integrations with other videos services, including YouTube, Kanvas, YouNow, and Upclose.

Essentially, the way it works is users stream live video through their platform of choice, and they can choose to simultaneously broadcast that video through Tumblr using the sharing options available on the other services. According to Tumblr, the live video will show up on the user’s page the same as other media, and once the broadcast itself is over, the post becomes a standard recorded video that can then be rewatched afterward.

“Live video works just like any other post,” Tumblr explained in an FAQ for the new live video feature. “Anyone following you will see it in their dashboard—while it’s live, it’s pinned to the top—and if it gets reblogged, then other people will see it as well.”

The new feature will likely be handed for people who have built an audience on Tumblr, as they will be able to stream video to their fans directly through the platform that they are already using. Thanks to the services it is integrating with, Tumblr’s live video is also available across multiple platforms, which is good new for the site, as it has been struggling to match the growth of other social networks with a strong mobile presence like Facebook and Twitter.

According to a recent report by eMarketer, Tumblr accounts for only around 12.5 percent of total social network users, which is less than half the amount of Pinterest, which accounts for 29.4 percent.

Image courtesy of Tumblr