Vine is taking off. The Twitter-owned iOS app built around sharing quick six-second videos received a lot of press -- both positive and negative.
After a few weeks of using Vine, it's easy to see why it has a ton of potential.
The brilliance is in the six-second limit
One of the familiar statistics brought up about Web video is that audiences tend to cut short their viewing experiences. Whether it's because of bandwidth constraints, short attention spans or just poor editing, a lot of people won't commit a lot of time to videos.
Vine, instead, limits its users to recording six-second clips. The result is a mixture of quick slices of life, quick sight gags and a whole lot of creativity.
There are events, like concerts:
#lumineers vine.co/v/bnaPPuxOXJn
— sarah wilson (@swyzleh) February 5, 2013
or the Super Bowl:
— Rembert Browne (@rembert) February 4, 2013
and vertigo-inducing point of view moments:
— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) February 5, 2013
I could keep going ohmygodit'ssocute:
OMG “@anthonybrown: Sparkles the #penguin, coming over to say hi. vine.co/v/bnAYD0I1auM”
— Probably Mat Honan (@mat) February 5, 2013
You get the idea. Add in the fact that these videos play automatically -- on a loop -- when embedded in a tweet or from the app.
It's also a very easy app to use: Press the camera button at the top of the app, touch the screen to record, lift finger to stop. The ability to "edit" while making a video is just brilliant. A user could, in theory, make a Vine post over the course of a few days -- as long as the app doesn't get dumped out of the iPhone's memory.
Immersion
A few friends have told me that watching Vines makes it feel as if they were right there with the videographer. This is where the magic is. The immediacy and the intimacy of the footage shot is a lot more vibrant and personal than a still image.
That's why it's so fun to browse the Vine feed on an iPhone, or check out vinepeek.com. It's the immersive nature of the app.
Twitter made a good choice in acquiring Vine, because it's got a lot of potential to become the next great visual communication medium.