Why Vine will be as revolutionary as Twitter was

These simple, six-second videos are the future of social media

For now Vine is only available for iPhone and iPod Touch users.
(Image credit: apple.com)

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.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
See more
See more
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us