After mobile photo-sharing app Instagram was snatched up by Facebook for a staggering $1 billion, many analysts were left wondering, what's next? According to The Wall Street Journal, it's an Instagram for video — an app that would allow you to use your smartphone to capture, upload, and share clips directly with your followers. Sure, video demands huge amounts of bandwidth and minutes (or more) of a user's time to capture and watch. But still, socially-shared clips seem to be Silicon Valley's newest holy grail. Here, a brief guide:
Why would a video-sharing app be so successful?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
Do these video apps exist?
Yes, and a few are vying for the top spot: Viddy, Socialcam, Mobli, and Color. Viddy has been downloaded 26 million times since it launched a year ago, and is currently adding an astounding million users a day. Socialcam, an offshoot of online streaming site Justin.tv, has accumulated more than 36 million users since it launched 14 months ago, and is perched atop the free section of Apple's App Store.
How do these apps make money?
They don't, really. "The biggest issue in mobile is monetizing," Dino Decespedes, vice president of Mobli, tells the Journal. Phones are "not a sexy place to put ads," and users tend to hate them. But that's hardly just a video problem. Instagram may have 35 million users, but it still has no revenue stream.
Do they make any money?
Some do. Viddy has extra features users can purchase, like color filters and video effects, while Mobli is experimenting with Disney-themed frames. But these add-ons do little to generate substantial revenue. The goal for now, says Chris Gabbard at WebProNews, is to "grow large enough and fast enough" to "draw the attention of major players in the industry" — just like Instagram did with Facebook.
Source: Buzzfeed, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, WebProNews
-
The IDF's manpower problemThe Explainer Israeli military's shortage of up to 12,000 troops results in call-up for tens of thousands of reservists
-
Quiz of The Week: 16 – 22 AugustQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
Can Soho House get its edge back?Talking Point The private members' club has lost its exclusive appeal – but a £2 billion buy-out could offer a fresh start
