Vine App Makes Instagram Look Primitive

Culture

If there's one undisputed truth in the social internet era, it's that people want to share what's going on in their lives. What they see, what they like, what they're thinking. Instagram took it one step further by adding "artistry" (sorry, can't write it without quotes). Fit a picture in a square frame, add a filter, and you're Warhol. Vine takes this one step further and is poised to leave its competition in the dust. 

For those of you who don't already have the app, Vine is a video-making and sharing app seamlessly integrated with Twitter. It came out in January and has quickly established itself as the premiere video sharing app. Its next target is Facebook's darling, Instagram. (An aside: it's no coincidence Twitter de-integrated Instagram and Facebook has no plans to integrate Vine) Here's why Vine is far superior to Instagram. 

1. Video > photo. This has proven itself time and time again. YouTube is more engaging than Google Images. TV is cooler than those glasses with pictures of koalas you'd click through as a kid (Space Glasses?) The only limitation of video vs. photo for an app is bandwidth, but that's getting better every single day as more towers go up and more wifi gets opened to the people. 

2. Editing during > Editing after. Instagram's big editing feature is the filter. I've gotta say, at this point I'm pretty sick of seeing oversaturated and sepia-toned pictures of people in bars. It's boring. Vine has no after-effects. No zoom. The only area for editing: during the video. The six seconds of video you take don't have to be continuous. Here's a great example.  

3. Artistic potential. Many professional photographers are none too pleased with Instagram, but video-makers have been flocking to Vine. You can do much cooler stuff than add a filter. For example, stop motion.  

4. Vinepeek. This thing is just cooler. It's a live feed of new Vines. Check it out. It's mesmerizing. 

5. Authenticity. You can take a picture with an SLR and upload it to Instagram. There are a couple steps in between, but you can do it. There is no video-capturing device other than your iPhone that can make Vines. This keeps the 'cheat' level down, and makes any impressive Vine that much more impressive. 

6. Activity doesn't awkwardly show up in a Facebook news feed. We've all seen it. Somebody likes a picture on Instagram of a shirtless male torso and it shows up for their grandma to see on Facebook. Don't let this happen to you. Use Vine. 

Hopefully I've convinced you. Because then you can make Vines for the world to enjoy. More Vines means more content, which means more awesome. And there's already a lot of awesome out there, for example my agency's Vine film festival (shout-out!).

In conclusion, Vine is better than Instagram.