5 things I found out about Vine

Just over a year ago, twitter thought it would be great to create a video making app that would give people the opportunity to communicate in new ways. Who knew you would only get 6 seconds to do it? When twitter introduced Vine to the world they didn't know how far it would get, but here is 365 days later. I know I'm meant to be the social media guy, but even I'm still getting to grips with it. So I thought I would share some of the things I've found out.

1// How it works

It's quite simple, Vine records for as long as your finger is on the create button. You can either create video in a single shot or tap the screen to create a stop animation style video. Recently Vine has also introduced two new features to the app, Sessions and Time Travel. Sessions allows users to save drafts of their unfinished posts and come back to finish them at a later time. The Time Travel feature expands the possibilities for stop-motion videos, allowing users to remove, reorganise or replace shots within a post before posting it.

2// Love your video
Video really does seem to be taking over the world, hence why instagram introducing video content was a reaction to Vine. However, integrating it with Twitter has certainly helped it grow. Certain brands have used this social media platform to their advantage and have produced brilliant content. Oreo are a fantastic example with their homage to 'The Shining' over Halloween.



3// Keep people hooked
A couple of people have created a small mini series if you like. I found that 6 seconds feels like a long time when recording, so if you create a narrative it's great way to gain more followers in the long run.

4// Get people involved
Scouting around I noticed a few brands want people to get involved more. Vine seems like a great way to encourage your audience to tag you in clips of them testing your products/services. It seems everyone loves a freebie! Asos showed this one off with a customer unboxing their stuff


5// Be Creative
Being creative it seems is definitely the most important aspect when creating your Vine video. Coming up with a great idea is actually more difficult that making the video itself. I found writing a few ideas down on a piece of paper helped as I didn't just want to rush in with a post.

So I have the Vine app downloaded now and I'm going to get my video on! Hopefully I'll have something worth showing. Wish me luck.

James xo