28 Jan Why I Despise Twitter’s Vine

I don’t like being a miserable, cantankerous old git, but social media’s latest new plaything, Vine from Twitter, is one of the worst developments I’ve seen in digital media for a long time. Yes, it’s very, very early days and, as an Android devotee, I am (as ever) classed as a second-class citizen so I’ve only had one play with it. But everything I’ve seen from Vine so far has been truly awful. And I don’t believe it’s because it’s the initial ‘getting-to-know-you’ type toying. I believe it’s because you can do nothing effectively in six seconds. Nothing.

Can you tell a story in six seconds? Arguably, yes. You can communicate a message about dogs needing homes. You can tell people that you’ve got fresh chickens eggs for sale. And you can illustrate how much you hate Vine in a rather special way (click below).

But the necessity to pack that message into six seconds results in video that is so fast moving it makes you feel sick. Quick cuts are fine in video; they add interest and excitement. But a Vine video with six or ten cuts makes your head spin. It’s forced and it’s pretty nonsensical. The pace of life is fast enough without this rubbish.

On the plus side, Vine is insanely simple to use. Log on and within a couple of minutes you’ve created a masterpiece (snigger). Which is fab. But so are Viddy and SocialCam, and they haven’t taken off. And they’re not limited to six intense, extreme seconds either. For me, Vine is superfluous noise. People will have a play, upload a couple and forget it. I hope.

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Posted by Paul Sutton