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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

Vine, iPhone app makes sharing videos easy

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The latest app sensation has brought Instagram to life. Vine, acquired by Twitter in October 2012, is a video sharing service that allows users to create and post six-second video clips.

These clips can be shared on Twitter and other social networking sites. Currently, the app is only available in the Apple market, and an Android release date has not been announced.

Vine has quickly gained a following as people from all over the world share silly, serious and often outrageous clips of themselves. April 9 marked an important date for the app when it became the most downloaded free app.

Scholars see potential for Vine to change the face of journalism and communication, as anyone can capture and share potentially significant events. Advertisers are thinking up new ways to reach the Vine audience by sending their marketing message out in the form of six-second videos.

Creatives see the app as an easy way to share stop-motion animation. Tribeca Film Festival acknowledged its significance in the future of film as it adopted a six-second films category in which 40 finalists were chosen. The category was split into four sections because there is a wide variety of content on Vine. The “Genre” category features horror and comedy clips, the “Auteur” category showcases artsy and creative videos, the “Series” category features multiple videos strung together to make a trilogy, and the “Animate” category features stop-motion animation.

Vine’s affiliation with Twitter has allowed the app to reach quick success. There are now a handful of Twitter accounts dedicated to the “funniest” or “best” Vines. It allows a much wider audience to view videos on Vine, which markets itself as a fun new technology. Although there have been previous video sharing apps, such as Cinemagram, none have reached the critical success and popularity of Vine.

Vine has been adopted by internet culture as users begin to upload popular culture clips and create their own interpretations. Videos that show Ryan Gosling acting in serious roles on a TV screen and refusing the filmmakers’ hands offering cereal have blown up in popularity.

As with any technology, users have found ways to use the app in inappropriate ways. The presence of pornographic images, drug and alcohol use and other forms of abuse caused Vine to raise the legal age to download the app to 17.

No other social media site has been so widely broadcasted on other platforms. You occasionally see an Instagram post on Twitter and Facebook, but Vine is shared on an even wider scale. All over YouTube, Twitter, blogs and news articles, Vines are posted and shared based on their relevance and creativity.

Once this app expands into the Android market, there will be no bounds to what users will create and explore through their video camera lens.

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