Twitter launched a new app under a new name this morning called Vine for iOS, which lets you take six-second videos. Vine can stitch together different scenes into one short video that you can then share via Twitter and Facebook or embed on a site. The mobile application looks a lot like Instagram and the videos are shot in square format, similar to Instagram photos. There is no question Vine is taking on a similar look and feel to Instagram as Twitter looks to tackle the mobile video space.
Vine is not the first to attempt in short videos. The first I recall was a company called 12seconds that took 12-second clips of video and was dubbed “Twitter for video” before being rolled into an acquisition by Aol and later being discontinued.
Vine is a New York startup. Though it was hinted at yesterday with this tweet by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Vine’s launch coincided with an announcement that they were also acquired by Twitter:
“We’re also happy to share the news that Vine has been acquired by Twitter. Our companies share similar values and goals; like Twitter, we want to make it easier for people to come together to share and discover what’s happening in the world. We also believe constraint inspires creativity, whether it’s through a 140-character tweet or a six-second video.”
Cofounder Dom Hofmann had this to say of the service:
“Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas, and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.”
I just took my first and second video with Vine and tried to tweet them, but they did not go out (and I was not the only one experiencing a similar issue). UPDATE: Vine has disabled Twitter and Facebook sharing. So obviously Vine still needs to work out some kinks. I am sure there will be more to come, as there isn’t currently a mobile video application that allows you to share videos that are short enough to share and view on your mobile device. This is a valuable new frontier and the company that nails it could be the next Instagram.
