Twitter has launched a standalone video-sharing app for iPhone called Vine, which enables users to share clips up to six seconds in length, which play on a loop within tweets.
Available on Apple`s App Store as a free download, the app will come to other platforms in due course according to a blog post by VP of product Michael Sippey, introducing the app.
The app is the result of an acquisition Twitter made in October 2012 of a startup called Vine, which hadn`t actually launched its app at the time it was bought. Users of the new app are encouraged to log in using their Twitter, although it`s not a requirement.
In a separate blog post, Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann describes the aim of the new app, comparing its six-second maximum video length to Twitter`s 140-character tweet restrictions:
"Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger," writes Hofmann. "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."
News of the app`s imminent release leaked out yesterday when Twitter CEO Dick Costolo posted a Vine video of someone preparing a steak tartare, including a link to the official @vineapp account on Twitter.
Twitter has launched a standalone video-sharing app for iPhone called Vine, which enables users to share clips up to six seconds in length, which play on a loop within tweets.
Available on Apple`s App Store as a free download, the app will come to other platforms in due course according to a blog post by VP of product Michael Sippey, introducing the app.
The app is the result of an acquisition Twitter made in October 2012 of a startup called Vine, which hadn`t actually launched its app at the time it was bought. Users of the new app are encouraged to log in using their Twitter, although it`s not a requirement.
In a separate blog post, Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann describes the aim of the new app, comparing its six-second maximum video length to Twitter`s 140-character tweet restrictions:
"Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger," writes Hofmann. "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."
News of the app`s imminent release leaked out yesterday when Twitter CEO Dick Costolo posted a Vine video of someone preparing a steak tartare, including a link to the official @vineapp account on Twitter:
As you can see, Vine clips automatically play when embedded in tweets, although their sound is turned off by default. The clips also play within Twitter`s official mobile app. Users can add locations to their clips – the app draws on Foursquare`s places database for that – with three options for sharing: Vine, Twitter and/or Facebook.
Why launch Vine as a standalone app rather than a feature within the official Twitter app? It`s likely the same strategy as Facebook`s Facebook Camera app: a separate app can be iterated more quickly to figure out what features work best, before integrating them back into the main app later.
