A fun part of being a publicist for start-ups who offer B2B social media tools is becoming familiar with other tools that are out there. To do this I need to use them.
One of my clients who is uber smart about social marketing has been talking a lot about Vine and Instagram videos. I had used Instagram for photos but hadn't tried the new video feature yet.
I spent an hour this afternoon trying out both apps. I'm glad I did. They are fun! I see that businesses are using both as well to promote their products and services. For example, Vine has a cool San Francisco Giants channel and the Giants had uploaded three new "Vine's" in just the five minutes I was watching.
Both Instagram and Twitter's Vine are free app downloads from Google Play if you have a phone with the Android OS. So they both score a 10 out of 10 in the area of cost.
They are also both social networking apps so you follow people and companies and your goal is usually to get followers just like on Twitter.
Vine videos have a six second maximum and they self-loop.
One difference is that Vine's videos are super short at only six seconds. Vine automatically self loops your brief video clip which can create quite an artistic effect especially if it's something like a guitar being strummed or someone singing or shouting.
I shot a video of my dog Shasta stretching while sleeping. I had to shoot the video about four times before I successfully uploaded it because I kept clicking the wrong command. The commands have no words next to them. I had to guess whether or not to hit the check mark button or arrow every time.
Here's how it works. You click the "shoot video" button which is the most obvious one.
To shoot you actually put your finger on the video screen instead of a button until the video is shot. Yes, you are blocking part of the video at this time but it still works okay. You wait for "rendering" to finish and then you choose next to name it and decide if you want to upload it to Vine, Twitter and Facebook. I don't know if LinkedIn is an option. You can also name the Vine video and pick a channel like "Dogs."
I uploaded Shasta's video to Vine's Dog channel and within 30 seconds I had my first like by a person in Orlando who had posted a video of his dog in the cone of shame. It might be my only like but I'm proud to have it! I didn't like the cone shot because it was too sad. I liked that he could like my video without having to follow me.
I honestly don't know what happened to the first few videos I shot. I think I accidentally erased them. Learning it by myself was quite clunky.
I plan to use the Vine app to capture and share videos next time I visit an interesting place. My son who is 12 thinks Vine is super cool.
I also figured out a way to make a self-video by clicking a Vine app button that's right there on the main shooting screen.
Instagram videos can be up to 15 seconds and it's easy to use.
Instagram didn't need so much trial and error. I had an Instagram account already but couldn't use the video feature until I updated my smartphone software through Google Play. That only took a few seconds since my Samsung Galaxy SIII is so wicked fast.
It was way easier shooting a video with Instagram and I didn't lose any. I just clicked on the very obvious take-a-photo button in the middle and then chose the new shoot video option which is also obvious.
It doesn't self-loop though so if you want that nifty artsy feature, you need to stick with Vine.
I believe that social butterflies will be using both regularly. Teens will continue to flock to both, especially since Vine is so cool with its self-loop feature. Businesses who have the marketing resources will use both apps.
I give Vine a six for ease-of-use but a 10 for coolness. I give Instagram a 10 for ease-of-use but only a five for coolness. So Vine wins.
Here's a recap of the scores and, yes, Vine wins.
Twitter Vine: 26 out of 30
Cost: 10 - free
Coolness: 10
Ease-of-use: 6
Instagram video feature: 25 out of 30
Cost: 10 - free
Coolness: 5
Ease-of-use: 10
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Michelle McIntyre is a resident of Saratoga, the president of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC (michellemcintyrecommunications.com), the director of marketing communications for the Silicon Valley International Association of Business Communicators (sviabc.org), a Boy Scout merit badge counselor for communications and journalism, and a core team member of TEDxSanJoseCA.
