Last month Twitter shook the social media landscape when it launched its new video-sharing app, Vine. The app allows users to create (in true Twitter fashion) condensed six-second videos, and then share them through the app itself, or post clips onto Twitter and Facebook. Although a video recording app is nothing new, the easy editing process (the app records when you touch the screen, and stops recording when you take your finger off) allows the user to flexibly create either Portlandia-style mini-sodes, record six seconds of straight video, or apply start/stop motion to build a higher-quality, GIF-like image (with sound included). Big business took to the app almost immediately, as user innovation launched Vine into the national spotlight.

Marketing with Vine

Vine is worth a definite download from any business with a strong Twitter presence (which is growing more and more important). If not strictly for the unique creative marketing purposes, businesses should absolutely use Vine on account of the short amount of time one has to invest (literally six seconds). If the popularity of social applications such as Snapchat and Instagram have proved anything, it's that users respond to images just as easily (and many times, more effectively) as words. Any business trying to clearly communicate a message could look to employ Vine as a marketing tool.

Vine's true value comes in its ease of use; business owners with minimal production experience can record, edit, and share high-quality clips without ever having to develop a strategy, lose valuable time, hire someone to do it, or worry about what to say. And although sharing right now is somewhat limited, updates could potentially simplify (and explode) sharing through hosting sites such as Vinepeek.com and hits on established blogs and YouTube.

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