Addicted to Vine?

February 15, 2013 7:22 PM

Adam Goldberg is making something really weird with Twitter's new 6 second video service Vine. Follow along on via Twitter with characters like: Adam and Merrit or within the Vine App itself on the tag merritxanadu44. A journalist tries to figure out what is going on.
posted by humanfont (27 comments total)

Do you have to click to turn on the sound every single time or what?
posted by orme at 8:03 PM on February 15, 2013

I hate that our average minimum attention span on the net has degraded to six seconds.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:27 PM on February 15, 2013 [4 favorites]

I have to admit these are super fascinating.
posted by Strass at 8:30 PM on February 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

That article was a bit silly but it is a pretty fun app:
My dog really wanted to go to the Beer Store during the snowstorm last week.
posted by chococat at 8:52 PM on February 15, 2013 [4 favorites]

Is it really six seconds? I watched these at least four times each and gained new perspective each time.
posted by Bistle at 8:54 PM on February 15, 2013

I don't have iOS so haven't tried Vine yet. Does it just use your twitter name or do you have to get a whole new account thingy?
posted by dobbs at 8:59 PM on February 15, 2013

I hate that our average minimum attention span on the net has degraded to six seconds.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:27 PM on February 15 [+] [!]

Eponypropriate.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:02 PM on February 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Is this iOS dependent? Fuck that noise.
posted by Bonzai at 9:43 PM on February 15, 2013 [4 favorites]

I am scared and confused by this particular manifestation of social media.
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 9:47 PM on February 15, 2013

Man, Strass, you really don't have to admit that.
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 9:48 PM on February 15, 2013

You're not my real dad!
posted by Strass at 9:52 PM on February 15, 2013 [2 favorites]

Within the context of there existing a six-second video-based social medium, these are an interesting use thereof, albeit I am not yet convinced of the necessity of the underlying premise or technology.
posted by dhartung at 10:42 PM on February 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

i think the idea is to bite stuff down into the information size that we really need them... it may seem awkward at 6 seconds (viddy is 15 seconds, so now were down to 6)... it'll all come together when the length is shortened to 0 seconds.

that's what i'm waiting for.
posted by el io at 10:49 PM on February 15, 2013

i'm going to wait a few years and see what the general opinion is at that point
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 11:10 PM on February 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

ok you wait a few years and see what the general opinion is at that point
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 11:40 PM on February 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

I hate that our average minimum attention span on the net has degraded to six seconds.

tl;dr
posted by mazola at 12:29 AM on February 16, 2013 [8 favorites]

I haven't used Vine directly, but someone (PXi Ventures) put together a single-page site called Vinepeek, which shows more-or-less realtime vine posts from around the world. It just keeps going, clip after clip.

I have my own reservations about what's essentially a video version of Twitter, but there is something about sitting and watching completely random short clips from around the globe, with sound, that gives me that exhilarating feeling I first had upon using the Internet. That crazy, uninhibited connectedness. A noisy, nighttime bar in South-East Asia. A snowing street in some Scandinavian city. A bored American office. An English mother and baby. All of it real, all of it never to be seen again.

I supposed I will become blasé about this too, in time.
posted by distorte at 2:15 AM on February 16, 2013 [13 favorites]

I just showed my missus Vinepeek. It went

car park
Japanese food
random dude
gushing facial jizz shot

She's adorable when she raises her eyebrow.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:34 AM on February 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

I have watched it for many minutes without seeing anything pornographic. It must be getting popular.
posted by distorte at 2:53 AM on February 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

I really like the vines that are a series of quick, choppy scenes. Some pretty imaginative stuff happening.

Also, just watching it for a few minutes, I saw two vines that showed people turning on their computers step by step, so maybe that's sort of a thing already?
posted by orme at 5:08 AM on February 16, 2013

I supposed I will become blasé about this too, in time.

I'm not blasé about the internet yet.
posted by DU at 6:11 AM on February 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Does anyone know why Vine videos won't play in any browser on my iPad?
posted by Orb at 8:08 AM on February 16, 2013

Is this iOS dependent? Fuck that noise.

Where did you get that idea? Did you try clicking the fine links here in the post? All of them lead to video snippets that readily play in any modern browser. The content we are discussing here, Adam Goldberg's innovative use of a new Internet product, is viewable by pretty much anyone. Last I looked Vine videos were really just MP4 files hosted on Amazon S3; nothing magic. (Orb; playback is broken for me on the iPad too. They work on the iPhone though, huh.)

Vine currently only supports iOS for creating videos. If you're a small startup, focussing on a single platform makes a lot of sense. And naturally for a US audience that's going to be iOS. I imagine they're planning to support other platforms, particularly since they are now owned by Twitter.
posted by Nelson at 9:14 AM on February 16, 2013

I just checked out Vinepeek and caught Jimmy Fallon. Apparently Jimmy Loves Vine!

So far, I like the horror film interpretation the best.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:16 AM on February 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Goldberg's use of the medium is interesting. I'm not sure the medium itself is particularly interesting.
posted by asnider at 9:49 AM on February 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I haven't used Vine directly, but someone (PXi Ventures) put together a single-page site called Vinepeek, which shows more-or-less realtime vine posts from around the world. It just keeps going, clip after clip.

There are times i'll just pop that up in a window while working on other things on the computer. I've yet to see any pornographic ones yet, but it's fascinating to me to observe the things people put up on there. Most of them are "friends in public setting like bars or restaurants.", "trying to be funny saying or doing something in an odd way", "preparing food" or just random life moments. The trying to be funny ones far outweigh the others though, and rarely are they actually funny. The Vinepeek thing though, is awesome, as it just keeps going with no rhyme or reason, which adds a whole new level to the thing.

Honestly though, maybe i'm just getting old, but i don't get the whole vine thing. Too short to gain context, unless you already know the people involved, but too long compared to a photo to spend time exploring it.
posted by usagizero at 2:14 PM on February 16, 2013

I just sat through 20 videos hoping to catch something interesting. I suppose I could sit through 20 more but, no thanks.
posted by evilDoug at 9:34 PM on February 16, 2013