In an already cluttered social media battlefield dominated by Facebook, Twitter unleashes their latest weapon: Vine, a mobile app that enables users to create and share short videos.
Emphasizing on simplicity, videos are capped at a 6 second maximum. This forces users to conform to the same ‘micro-blogging’ mentality made familiar by Twitter. Vine, naturally following in the footsteps of the creators’ main project, uses the tried and true ‘follower’ system, allowing you to view the visual micro-blogs of anyone you choose. The app also incorporates a search function, providing gif-like videos relating to everything from magic tricks, cute dogs, and other things that we shouldn’t (but do!) care about.
- Has Instagram Met Its Match?
Naturally, many comparisons have been drawn between Vine and Instagram on account of the visual and artistic emphasis put on both services. A quick Google search will show you that many consider Vine as ‘Instagram for videos’. Interestingly enough, Vine’s blog is attempting to position the app away from the Facebook-owned photo sharing service.
Vine is a video service without a play button. This was intentional. Old things are beautiful, but new things should look, well… new. That’s why Vine doesn’t have a play button. It also doesn’t have a pause button, a timeline scrubber, a blinking red light, or dials and a brushed-metal finish to give you the impression that you’re using a dusty video camera.
Posted by Rus Yusupov (@rus)
Co-founder & Creative Director, Vine
Notice the subtle shots at Instagram’s focus on vintage style photos with an old school feel? Vine is not simply trying to be better than Insta, but is rather trying to set itself apart.
- The Bottom Line: Facebook vs. Twitter
Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in mid-2012 resulted in an unpopular move by Twitter: disabling the function to share and view Instagram photos directly on to your Twitter feed.
Was denying support to their primary competition simply Twitter’s natural reaction to the aquisition, or was this Twitter’s first step in paving the way for their own visual blogging tool?
Regardless of their intentions, the Instagram/Vine feud will be largely decided by the corporations to which they belong.
When it comes down to it, the success of Vine will be dependent on Twitter’s ability to fully integrate it into their consumer’s everyday lives. In this respect, Instagram has had success with a staggering number of active users. With only just over a month since its release, Vine is still too young to assess on the same level.
You can find Vine’s website here. The app is currently available on iOS, and expansion to Android is expected soon.
Let the visually-centered social media battle begin,
Josh
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