Go Symbol Lookup
Loading...

Six Things to Know About the Vine Video-Sharing App From Twitter

  Text Size    
Published: Monday, 28 Jan 2013 | 4:51 PM ET
By:

CNBC Social Media Producer

Vine, Twitter's new video-sharing service, is currently all the rage. The iOS application lets users easily capture and share short looping videos, which has led some to call it "Instagram For Video." Here are six things you should know about the app.

1) Flooded With Porn

As it is with any fast-growing social media application, Vine has a porn problem. A search for hashtags "#porn" and "#nsfw" will produce hundreds of six-second clips that aren't for the faint of heart.

Vine warns potential viewers when a "post may contain sensitive content" and asks users to tap to view possibly risque material. Early Monday, a porn video shared by user "nsfwvine" received the service's "Editor's Pick" badge . A Twitter spokesperson told NBC News in an email that a "human error" was behind the choice and the badge was removed immediately after the company noticed it.

(Read More: Twitter's Vine Features Porn Video as 'Editor's Pick' Thanks to 'Human Error' )

2) Facebook Dislikes It

Facebook has blocked the new video-sharing app from being able to find user's Facebook friends on the new service.

In a post explaining the move, Facebook wrote that it has policies against apps that "bootstrap their growth in a way that creates little value for people on Facebook."

Last Friday CNBC questioned whether Vine will push Facebook to add a video feature to any of its mobile applications. Late Monday, it did. The company's updated iOS application now lets users record and share videos, as well as voice messages.

(Read More: Twitter Releases Video-Sharing App — Will Facebook Clone It? )

3) Early Hiccups

Early versions of the application are buggy. A Twitter search for "Vine failed" on Sunday produced dozens of angry tweets.

Users were complaining of "failed uploads" after spending minutes at a time working on a single Vine clip.

"After 5 separate failed attempts of uploading a Vine video I don't think the app is anything other than frustrating," tweeted Ian Coles.

(Read More: Vine-ing and Whining)

Twitter Design Manager Martin Ringlein attempted to encapsulate 3,000 miles into six seconds of video and failed twice. One successful try was labeled, "World's Longest Vine."

4) Claim Your Name

Similar to Facebook, Vine has an issue regarding duplicate usernames. Since Vine's system currently identifies each user by a number on the back-end, two users can technically be "Barack Obama" on the front-end. To solve this issue, Vine is now adding verified badges for high-profile users.

Whether or not you want to start Vine'ing today, we recommend you at least claim a text-only username on the front-end. If the app decides to hand out vanity URLs based on the name a user chose, you'll be in a good position to have your preferred username.

5) Developers Getting Creative

Developers are already doing some fun things with Vine posts. A site called Just Vined features 20 of the most recent clips published on the platform. Vinepeek, another tool, will show you the world's newest Vine in realtime. "Sit back and watch the world in 6 second bites," Vinepeek exclaims. "This stream… is [not moderated]," it warns.

6) Business Applications

Businesses are already using it to fill jobs and give house tours.

Jeff Weiner, CEO of social media rival LinkedIn, gave the app his approval tweeting, "Looks like @Twitter is on to something w/ @vineapp."

Ritz, Dove and Trident Gum are getting in on the action, too. Whether a brand can tell a story effectively in six seconds will be interesting to watch.


— Written by CNBC's Eli Langer. Follow him on Twitter at @EliFromBrooklyn

 Print
Twitter's Vine is currently all the rage. But let's just say it's not your mom's video-sharing app. Yes, there's porn. Here are six things you need to know.
  Price   Change %Change
FB ---
LINKEDIN ---

   
Comments

 

More Comments

 
 

Add Comments

 

Your Comments (Up to 1100 characters):

Remaining characters

Your comments have not been posted yet.

Please review your submission to make sure you are comfortable with your entry.

Your Comments:


                
            
            
        

Featured

Contact Technology

  • Editor of CNBC.com's Tech Section, always plugged in and yet also wireless.

  • Working from Los Angeles, Boorstin is CNBC's media and entertainment reporter and author of CNBC.com's "Media Money" blog.

  • Fortt is CNBC's technology correspondent, working from CNBC's Silicon Valley bureau and contributes to "Tech Check" on CNBC.com.