The Twitter-owned app, Vine, is definitely living up to its reputation as the next big thing. The Practice team can definitely see its appeal; after all, the app allows users to create and share six-second videos, satisfying our primal love for anything short, instant, and snappy. So who’s using it, what’s been created already, and how did we find our first Vine experience?

We at The Practice agree that Vine can rightly be dubbed the “3D Instagram”, with Twitter users “vining” videos of popularized themes such as food, landmarks, and of course “selfies”. What we’re essentially seeing are GIFs with audio capacity. In this sense, while the app might work best for the amateur videographer, Vine opens up a potential opportunity for brands to convey personability; the app functions on a rudimentary level with no special tools or filters (yet), allowing raw and unedited “behind-the-scenes” style shots which we feel companies can use to really humanize their corporate identities. Dove’s first Vine video was exemplary; the six-second clip showed several of their products lined up as bowling pins, followed with them being knocked down with a bar of soap. We like the fact that Dove captured something entertaining without shamelessly promoting their products- using Vine effectively is definitely about showing viewers something they’d never usually get the chance to witness from one of their favourite brands.

Despite recent allegations of pornographic content which have deterred companies from fully engaging with the platform, one of the main draws of Vine is its potential to be used by a variety of organisations. Aside from brands such as Dove, Gap and General Electric (to name a few), using the app for advertising purposes and fan engagement, broadcasting corporations have also taken to showcasing their news snippets. It’s no wonder companies such as NBC have jumped on board; Vine is clearly the perfect partner for live news, akin to Twitter’s newsfeed, and as a result we’ve steadily seen a stream of news features captured in real time. One such was NBC’s clip of a dolphin trapped in a New York city harbour- incidentally Vine’s first news video. And while not exactly front-page news, this was a successful example of how smaller and more bizarre events that can draw people in emotionally, are suited to the Vine environment.

The Practice team have only created one video so far, but it’s safe to say we’ve caught the Vine bug! For one, its more than user-friendly; press your finger against the screen to record, and lift to stop- there’s nothing remotely difficult about mastering that! Secondly, we’ve always been fans of animations that use stop motion, a technique that captures several frames on repeat. There’s this option, by lifting your finger off the screen at a certain point in the process and then capturing something entirely different, or simply holding your finger down for the full duration. In this way, you can even capture something like a flickbook, which several Vine users seem to have done already. And of course we’ll never tire of watching clichéd clips of people taking bites of food, or even creating similar ourselves…Watch this space!

Have you tried out Vine yet? And do you see the app having longevity, or is it merely another fad? We’d love to hear your comments, so please connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @PracticeDigital, or even tweet us your best Vine creations!