6 Seconds Of Fame: What Makes a Good Vine?

Culture

By now you've probably heard of Vine, the Snapchat-Instagram hybrid social media platform. Acquired by Twitter in October, the app runs on iOS and Android platforms with over 13 million unique users. It's loved by everyone from A-list celebrities to amateur journalists.

What's yet to be determined, however, is what exactly makes a good Vine post. The brevity of the videos coupled with the creative flexibility of stop motion make for a pastiche of outcomes. When it comes to Vining, just about anything goes.

But not everything is worthy of your like or follow. Here are a few rules to roll with for a truly great Vine post.

1. Be a little mean

With no real reaction time from the butt of your jokes and jumps to show the different stages of your intricate plan, Vine is the perfect medium for pranks. Like every other form of social media, being a troll or cartoonishly devious can get plenty of laughs. Tyler, The Creator has it locked down here, as does Eric Stonestreet and this dude.

2. Be random

The six-second style of Vine is very conducive to getting weird. Most of the time, you don't need a reason or an explanation for what you're doing. Just go for it. The bigger the WTF factor, the better the Vine. Will Sasso swallows a lemon and Mac Miller follows pigeons

3. Be all over the place

Just because you have six seconds doesn't mean you have to be in one setting. As Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh demonstrates, Vines that stretch multiple locations can be pretty cool. Perhaps it means some travel time, but it's certainly worth it.

4. Be meta

Taking a video of a video? Madness. Whether it's grabbing out-of-context YouTube clips or doing voiceovers of muted movies, Vining other videos can be a lot of fun. You can choose to insert yourself back into the Vine, as this guy chose to do, or you can let your weird screengrab speak for itself.

5. Be ambitious

Okay, you probably can't do that. Or this. But you're more than welcome to try this if you're feeling bold. If you're not famous and you don't have an array of weird voices at your disposal, your Vines are going to have to be a little ambitious. Undertaking an hour-long mission for six seconds of video time may seem foolish, but the finished product can be pretty amazing. All about commitment.

6. Be newsworthy

Flying Lotus took to Vine to hint at a collaboration with ThunderCat and Herbie Hancock. Elijah Staley used Vine to announce his commitment to Mississippi State. The revolution in Turkey is being broadcast in six-second increments. Vine is a short, effective way to say more while doing less, perfect for off-the-cuff news reporting. Perhaps you're not debating where to play college football, but you probably have something in your life to capture in segmented social media.