“I’m just so exhausted,” I said out loud the moment I read a message from my best friend insisting that there is a new social media app I must download.
I have finally gotten my Instagram strategy down to a T so that each post guarantees at least 10 likes within 24 hours. Facebook has become such a reflex that I’ve checked it twice between starting this article and writing this sentence. I am intimidated by Twitter due to my tendency to fill my feed with people who are paid to be witty and funny within a limited number of words (aka comedians). The Internet is no longer a fun toy on which to stalk former middle school crushes: it has become yet another place to be mediocre.
I am one of those rubes who constantly believes that we have reached the peak of social media. I think that Twitter and Facebook can no longer create anything new and will only depend on users and advertisers to keep the site in motion. I will see three new dating apps in a day and think that the tech bubble has burst. I may not know how the trends work but I do know when to fall for them.
About three weeks ago, Twitter released a new video-sharing app called “Vine.” It allows users to connect with their Twitter account (or independently) to share video loops that can run up to six seconds long. It’s the Instagram of video. The app makes sharing video even easier than Youtube does. It is centered mainly on sharing with friends (or followers) and can be created, edited, and posted within 10 seconds.
While it has already been utilized by the Internet’s most popular video genre (hint, it rhymes with corn), I believe that Vine has immense potential to become a sturdy social media platform. It won’t just provide another way to share slightly insulting or funny tidbits on the web, but will change the way we look at video as an art medium, too.
Comedian Steve Agee has already put Vine to use as a way to share six-second vignettes based on an awkwardly-placed fireplace or the rebelliousness one feels while smoking next to a “No Smoking” sign. They’re silly, yes, but they show the potential Vine has as a creative catalyst. I can see Intro to Filmmaking classes including the Vine app in their first project as a way to challenge students to create a story without post-production editing and within a small time limit. We’ll see “Six Second Memoirs” pop up and an American Idol contestant will be chosen through Vine submissions within three years! Okay. Maybe the last one is a stretch but you get where I’m going.
This will also be huge for advertising and public relations. New York Fashion Week is already taking full advantage of Vine as a way to show off runway and street fashions, style, swag and what have you. Museums will be able to give a preview to shows through a six-second run-through. I’m not saying this is a pro or con but it’s going to be a game changer.
Now you don’t need to download Vine right now or even within the next month. I’m not worried about convincing you. One day, you’ll have a moment much like the other moments that convinced you to sign up for every other site you’re on, and you will want to join Vine. When that day comes, I hope you have an amazing time creating and exploring!
