Today, Twitter unveiled Vine, a new service that allows users to take videos on their cell phone, then embed that video into their tweets.
Vine videos are limited to a maximum of six seconds, and play in a continuous loop. They are shot using the Vine app, and users can choose to have sound on or off, as can anyone who encounters a Vine video in a tweet or blog post. In a blog post, Vine co-founder and general manager Dom Hofmann wrote that, “Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.”
The six-second limitation on Vine posts appears to be Twitter’s new atomic unit for video. A Twitter spokesperson said, “The team tested various video lengths, ranging from about 4 seconds to 10 seconds, as they were building Vine. They found that six seconds was the ideal length, from both the production and consumption side.”
See example below:
Holding hands at Tilden park vine.co/v/biTaEEwdq2n?1
— James Buckhouse (@buckhouse) January 24, 2013
