Why Vine will be as revolutionary as Twitter was

Vine is essentially Instagram, but with video. It sounds simple, but the results are astounding. Think of Vine less as short videos and more as living snapshots.

Even better, Twitter's new tool is exceptionally easy to use. You hold your finger on your phone's screen to record a scene up to six seconds long. To stop recording, lift your finger. To resume recording, press the screen again.

Whereas the tweet gave short blurts of written information to the world, and Instagram gave us pictures, Vine looks to break the video barrier by allowing anyone to shoot, edit, and share video directly from their phones. It's the sort of thing that would have been unimaginable just five years ago during the age of Motorola Razrs. And already, it's amazing what people have been able to come up with. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney has gotten in on the action, asking fans to guess a song, as have have the Brooklyn Nets, who show off with some warmup footage.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up