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Twitter launches Vine micro-video sharing service | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Twitter has launched Vine, an addition to the social network that allows users to embed six second videos within their tweets. | |
The service was used first by Twitter boss Dick Costolo, who >posted a clip of himself making steak tartare. | |
Twitter bought out developer Vine Labs, a start-up based in New York, in October last year. | |
The program is available as a stand-alone app in the Apple App Store - but not yet on other platforms. | |
Videos posted on Vine are on an infinite loop - in a manner similar to animated gifs, an image format that has been popular since the very early days of the internet. | |
"Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine inspires creativity," wrote Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice president of product. | |
'Little windows' | |
Dom Hofmann, co-founder of Vine, said the two companies shared "similar values and goals". | |
"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 will also be able to follow other Vine users and search for clips from people they know. | They will also be able to follow other Vine users and search for clips from people they know. |
The acquisition could prove to be a shrewd move, one analyst said. | |
"Video will be the next new front in the battle to add more functionality to social platforms," said Adrian Drury from research firm Ovum. | |
"In a way it is surprising that it has taken this long to integrate micro-video blogging," he added. | "In a way it is surprising that it has taken this long to integrate micro-video blogging," he added. |
"This is Twitter's first effort and we see it as an early experiment and it will be interesting to see how consumers respond." | "This is Twitter's first effort and we see it as an early experiment and it will be interesting to see how consumers respond." |
Annoying? | |
IDC analyst Alys Woodward said: "I'm not convinced that the steak tartare video was the best example they could have used, as six seconds is too short to give enough information on how to cook anything." | IDC analyst Alys Woodward said: "I'm not convinced that the steak tartare video was the best example they could have used, as six seconds is too short to give enough information on how to cook anything." |
She added: "Twitter needs to ensure it can prevent offensive videos from being widely shared and I haven't found any evidence that Vine does that." | She added: "Twitter needs to ensure it can prevent offensive videos from being widely shared and I haven't found any evidence that Vine does that." |
Some critics have pointed out that the video continuously looping could become irritating. | |
"I would welcome one in every 10 or 15 tweets having a video element but a cascading stream I would find pretty annoying," said Mr Drury. | "I would welcome one in every 10 or 15 tweets having a video element but a cascading stream I would find pretty annoying," said Mr Drury. |
"Twitter will see how people respond and if users don't like it presumably they will change it," he added. | "Twitter will see how people respond and if users don't like it presumably they will change it," he added. |
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