Multiple sources tell TechCrunch that Twitter has been contacting celebrities who use Meerkat, trying to convince them Meerkat is dying and that they should use Periscope instead.

Sources also say Twitter has been in touch with media companies that use Meerkat, going so far as to imply that if they don’t exclusively use Periscope, it could cut off their access to Amplify. Amplify, in short, is Twitter’s answer to commercial TV: it’s a product that pairs media companies with brands to create promoted tweets based around video clips, giving a boost of reach both to the media company and the brand sponsoring it.

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Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and Twitter investor Chris Sacca are said to have contacted high-profile public figures after they broadcast on Meerkat, claiming Periscope has broader reach and a better app. Twitter’s celebrity outreach team is also said to have gotten involved on behalf of Periscope in what our sources describe as very aggressive tactics.

“Twitter hounds every celebrity after they try Meerkat. Almost to the point of stalking,” a source said, adding that it’s leading to some tension internally as well. “Twitter is absolutely obsessed with Meerkat. They talk about it all the time to the point that the Periscope employees and founders are angry.”

Meerkat unwittingly built its initial live streaming app on top of Twitter’s social graph, communication, and distribution systems, not knowing Twitter had acquired fellow live streaming app Periscope months earlier.

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In the end, the app that’s capturing and building its audience best will win, and the jury is out on whether either of these will be the “winner” at the end of the day (plenty of growing painsat both, btw). Currently, Periscope is ranked number 165 of among all apps in the U.S. and 22 among social apps according to App Annie, while Meerkat is 120 amongst social apps and was last pegged at 1142 in the overall chart.

No less than Dick Costolo and Chris Sacca are personally contacting people.

This is an ugly chart.

Periscope is already doing well. Does Twitter really need to stifle Meerkat?

Meanwhile, Twitter is curiously not pursuing Snapchat.

Also note over 40 million people watched Coachella Live on Snapchat this weekend:

https://twitter.com/evanspiegel/status/587657220466196483

I found that link via @ajs.