What Are Vine Videos?
Overnight Success
Vine was founded in early 2012, and set themselves up for a system launch later that year. Other companies heard about their idea, and Twitter bought Vine that same year before the site even had its official launch. In April 2013 it was the most downloaded free app on iTunes, and the app came out on Android in 2014. While it’s the relatively new kid on the block, Vine has taken off and contends with several other heavy hitters.
Short length
It’s fitting that Vine was bought by Twitter. The video service is to YouTube what Twitter is to blogging. Users record videos that are 5-6 seconds long, no more. In order to make sure that people see everything in the video, they’re set to automatically loop.
“In-Camera” Effects
The Vine app is set up to only record when the person is touching the screen, which means that users have a lot more freedom than the standard interface for video. Because it’s so quick to stop recording, it’s possible to do on-the-go editing by simple lifting your finger. Some people have even used this to do frame by frame animations with either drawings or stop-motion.
Comedy and Music
The Vine format is almost tailor-made for comedy People will put up quick, entertaining videos, often of them doing silly things or acting in a way that couldn’t be captured with a photo. Since a Vine is only a few seconds long, no one feels compelled to have to do a full 3-5 minutes like they would on YouTube.
Music is also popular, which might sound odd since 5-6 seconds is not a lot of music. But it is enough time to throw up a dance move, or play a quick snippet of a chorus. Artists have even used Vines to announce track lists or other information.
That being said, there’s a wide variety of videos on Vine. For example, 5-6 seconds is perfect for a daredevil showing off a stunt, or a cinematographer showing a perfect shot. Skilled journalists have even used it to capture world events.
Social
Vine is all about being social, and have spent just as much time on the social interface as they have the video interface, if not more. It’s easy to re-vine (re-post) a Vine or respond to it with one of your own.
Since it’s owned by Twitter, integration into other social media services like Twitter and Facebook is easy. Like other networks, Vines can be hashtagged, making it easy to find popular or trending Vines and new people to follow.