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Socially Briefly: Vine and Snapchat, Momentary Social Media

If you enjoy the brevity of Twitter but prefer to get your message across with a video instead of text, then Vine is the app for you. Think of a video as being 20 words long.Vine is a mobile app with a camera that lets you create and post videos. The catch is that the time allotted for these is 6.5 seconds (about 20 words). The app is available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. You can post these videos on Twitter and Facebook.
The app was created in June 2012, and within a few months it was acquired by Twitter. Just a couple of months after that, Vine became the most used video sharing app in the market, and by April 2013 it was the most downloaded free app within the iOS App Store.

Why 6.5 seconds?

It turns out that after some experimenting, the founders of Vine decided that this amount of time was just right, and makes it easy for users to create

and share videos. But the video doesn't simply play for that amount of time and then quit—it plays on a loop, which gives people a chance to watch the video over and over.

Want everyone to see your one-year-old diving into the frosting of his first birthday cake? What about sharing that gorgeous Hawaiian sunset while on your vacation? Maybe you've always wanted to make movies but a 2-hour format is just too daunting for you—why not start small, with a 6 second movie instead? Besides making and sharing videos, Vine.com will also let you follow other Vine users to see their current videos, and you can even comment on them.

Besides sharing snippets of your life, it's a great way to be creative. Although 6.5 seconds is the time you are given, many don't see this as a "limit," but instead see it as a challenge.

Of course, Vine isn't used just for personal recreation.

It is used in advertising, to promote the latest products. It is used in the music industry, to let fans know about their favorite band's latest album. It has even been used in journalism, as a way to document the news as it happens. It wouldn't be surprising to find, in the near future, that when applying to school or for a job, some use Vine as a part of their application and resume. What better way for an aspiring art or film student to quickly show off their talent?

Is there a downside to Vine? Some say that between Twitter and Vine (and all the other electronic gadgets we have access to) our attention spans are decreasing every day. Or at least I think they said it. I forget.

Vine provides the chance to show off your creative side – in a snap! And speaking of, let’s chat about Snapchat.

If you find yourself recommending this brief communications to other business friends, make sure you also tell parents they may want their child to opt out of the “find friends” feature, which was recently hacked. The result was the sharing of "private" phone information.

Snapchat is a mobile app, offered on iOS and Android, which is similar to Vine in the way it offers a quick, creative glimpse into a moment of time that you can share. You can take photos, record videos, and add text or crazy drawings before sending them off to a list of friends. But unlike Vine, you set a time limit as to how long your friend can view each picture or video, with the maximum amount of time set to 10 seconds. You can also see when your recipient views the Snapchat you sent, with the exact time and date.

Snapchat is a great way to send clips of your fun times to friends, to let them know you’re thinking about them or sending a fun photo as a remembrance of some great memories you shared. It’s as easy as, well, a snap.
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Margaret Ross is an award winning business consultant, expert communications strategist, management consultant and recognized author. Ross is the host of two time Telly Award winning television
program, Success Class and the CEO of Visible Strategies Communications, a leading business marketing consultancy, digital marketing and technology group headquartered in Atlanta, GA.


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