Micro-blogging just got a little bit more interesting, as Twitter revealed a brand new video-sharing app called Vine.
In addition to their 140-character posts, users will now be able to add short, six-second videos to their tweets. After the six seconds are up, the video loops over and over again, much like a GIF does online. The short length is meant to inspire creativity, and the app as a whole seems like a video-based Instagram.
"Today, we're introducing Vine: a mobile service that lets you capture and share short looping videos," read Twitter's blog. "Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine (6 seconds or less) inspires creativity. Now that you can easily capture motion and sound, we look forward to seeing what you create."
Vine has been optimized for iPhone 5, but is currently available on any iPhone 3GS and above, as well as the iPod Touch. It's also free.
"Posts on Vine are about abbreviation - the shortened form of something larger," wrote Dom Hoffman, Vine's co-founder, on the app's blog. "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."
To mark the official release of its app, Vine revealed that it has been purchased by Twitter, noting that both companies value the power of sharing.
"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," Hoffman wrote. "We also believe constraint inspires creativity, whether it's through a 140-character Tweet or a six-second video."
Even so, the acquisition doesn't mean users have to sign up for Twitter to use the service. It's downloaded as a separate app, and only links to your Twitter or Facebook account if you choose to make it. According to Wired, Vine blends simplicity with ease quite well:
"By lifting your finger, you can momentarily pause the recording, making it possible to create a miniature narrative out of multiple scenes. The app does all the stitching automatically for you, editing together a six-second movie with a series of jump cuts."
Unfortunately, there's no word on a potential Android release just yet. If you're an iOS user, though, get crackin' on those videos here.
