Two for Tuesday: Tale of Two Apps

As some of you loyal readers may remember, a few weeks ago I wrote about Twitter’s rapidly growing video  app, Vine. Well, if any of you ran out to the app store (or I suppose whatever the virtual equivalent of “running to” a virtual store is) to download it, I’m here to say that you may want to prepare yourself for the next big thing (may being the operative word). In this week’s Two for Tuesday, I put my good ol’ Vine app up against Facebook’s response, announced on June 20th: Instagram Video.

Tale of the Apps

Vine
Developed by Twitter
:06 Run-time
No Filters
Start-Stop Recording means Editing (cutting and splicing frames) at the touch of a button
Explore by Editor’s Picks, Popular Now, tags, users, what’s trending

Instagram Video
Developed by Facebook-owned Instagram
:15 Run-time
Just like with photos, users can add filters to customize their videos
Start-Stop Recording
Explore by tags and users

The natural next question, then, is simple: which one of these apps is better?

Obviously these things often come down to personal preference and answers that start with “Well, it depends,” but where’s the fun in that?

From the outset, Instagram Video seems like the clear winner—it’s got the longer run-time, the filters everybody loves and an established fan base that has been using Instagram for two years now. It even shares Vine’s start-and-stop recording feature. For the everyday user, it really is the clear winner.

So why do I still prefer Vine? Well, for one, having been around for over six months, Vine isn’t exactly the new kid on the block when it comes to social media anymore, especially not after Twitter bought it. In fact, Instagram Video is the newer entry into the social video foray. Besides, attention spans are shortening by the day, or so I hear. Six seconds is more than enough to tell a compelling story—in the right hands. And while I said that Instagram is the clear choice for the everyday user, I have a certain reverence for the creatives—blame working in an agency and minoring in Creative Writing. Six seconds places a premium on every frame, and the truly successful users (I don’t know what to call them—Videographers? Directors? Viners? I’ll gladly take suggestions) pack some great content in each. Or maybe I’m just weird. I did, after all, just argue over a nine second difference. Anybody have some hairs in need of splitting?

Cover Photo Source: icon leak via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Source 1: Twitter (Vine press room) via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Source 2: entrepgirl2 via Flickr

Kevin is a junior executive at SJG. A Texas native, he is currently working on obtaining a BA from Northwestern University in Comparative Literary Studies and Creative Writing, with a special interest in media and pop culture in Latin America and the Latino U.S. His love of TV is only outpaced by his love of his hometown San Antonio Spurs.