Have you heard of Vine, Twitter’s latest spinoff?
In a nutshell, it’s a micro-video sharing app that’s currently available for iPhone users.
The app launched yesterday, and it essentially allows Vine users to post short 6 second videos to Vine, Twitter and Facebook.
What’s the big friggin deal, you ask?
Well they’re not any old six second videos.
They work like GIFs letting you create clever stop-animation style videos.
And it’s easy as pie to do.
All you do is turn on your phone’s camera from within the app.
There’s a little camera icon in the header.
Then you hold your finger to the screen.
As long as your finger is touching the screen, Vine records.
Lift you finger, recording stops.
Press the screen again, recording starts again.
Lift it, it stops.
Each time you press the screen, a green progress bar shows you how much recording time you have left.
When you’ve hit your six second limit, a green check box appears on the screen.
Press it and you’re presented with the option to post to the Vine community, Twitter and Facebook.
Toggle the switches to select your preference and viola! You’re done.
Getting set up with Vine is a cinch.
You can register with your Twitter account or sign up via email.
From there, you’re prompted to confirm your profile details.
And then Vine gives you a short live tutorial to show you how to use the app.
In addition to letting you create your own short vids, you can browse through the creative contributions of other users from the ‘Explore’ option in the app.
There’s also an ‘Activity’ option in the menu, which stores all of your activity within the Vine community (likes, shares, comments, etc.).
Posting micro-videos to Vine is the video equivalent of Tweeting.
You’re posting short bursts of content that followers consume like potato chips.
It’s so super easy to use that I can see this thing taking off.
But what do I know?
There’s already a bit of controversy surrounding Vine’s release.
Apparently, unlike most other apps being introduced nowadays, you can’t sign up for Vine with your Facebook account.
And there is some question as to whether you can actually post to Facebook via the app.
When I tried, there appeared to be a glitch in the matrix.
Although I was presented with the standard access screen, the app crashed when I elected to allow the app to post activity to my profile.
Hmmmm…
Anyway, if you’re interested in yet another social sharing app that’s a monumental waste if time, Vine is right up your alley.
From my short time with it, I foresee it being quite addictive.
Stephen Chukumba 