A few weeks ago at a press event at Facebook’s headquarters, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom announced a new feature called “Video On Instagram.” It allows users to create 15-second videos on their smart phones, edit using 13 new filters, and share the results on different social networks. It’s part of a new trend among marketers to use “micro” video clips of only a few seconds, and is effectively the Instagram response to Twitter’s new Vine micro-video app — raising the question as to which service is superior?
“We focused on 3 things. First, simplicity. Simplicity really, really matters here. Video is complex; it’s hard to edit, it’s hard to manage, it’s hard to upload. The second thing: it has to be beautiful. If it isn’t beautiful, it isn’t Instagram. The third thing: community. From day one, 130 million people will have access to recording the world’s video.” — Kevin Systrom.
So what does this mean for Vine – another video creating and sharing app, owned by Twitter? The speed of the Instagram videos taking over the Vine videos is pretty impressive:
The Vine user activity started to decrease immediately after the Instagram announcement: in a week the amount of Vine videos on Twitter changed from 2.5 million to just 900,000. The fact that many big brands (like Ford, MTV, Disney, Intel, Cisco Systems, Avon, Burberry, Dell, eBay, Facebook, Gap, General Electric, Nike and Starbucks) prefer Instagram helps its video service beat Vine:
It’s still too early to make any specific forecasts, we’ll be closely watching the battle between Vine and Instagram. So far the statistics are highly affected by the novelty of the Instagram’s service and the fans are excited to be able to publish fancy videos of their meals and cats. There are certain benefits of “Video On Instagram”:
- Video Editing – you can easily delete the parts of the clip which didn’t turn out too well.
- Cover Frame – you can pick a frame from the clip to use as the cover.
- Focus – tap the screen to focus
- Cinema stabilization feature
- Available on Android and iOS from day 1
There are no news from Vine, their last tweet was posted on June 18th, and they ran lots of sponsored posts for it after the Instagram launch. Is Vine going to fight back?
#ThankYou for sharing so many wonderful videos on Vine. You’re all awesome! https://t.co/uzLUqdIgSD 🙂
— Vine (@vineapp) June 18, 2013
Do you create videos on your smartphone? Does your business have a video account? Which one do you prefer: Vine or Instagram? If you have an opinion, let us know here!
July 14, 2013, 5:20 AM
This post, particularly the title, feels very brand myopic to me. It’s such a hotly contested battle, Instagram v. Vine, and with Instagram’s early stats looking so remarkably similar to Vine’s when they were just out of the gates, one can only wonder why you’re doubling down on Instagram so early on and so enthusiastically. It’s as though there’s some reason not clearly defined here.
I would have much rather seen Keokee’s first stab at discussing these services focus on a pragmatic approach to using them successfully as opposed to delving into an arcane consideration of tenuous statistics.
My two cents.
July 15, 2013, 5:33 PM
Ken, thanks for your opinion! While the title does indicate the fact the Instagram is currently ahead, we do note: “It’s still too early to make any specific forecasts… So far the statistics are highly affected by the novelty of the Instagram’s service “.
Keokee doesn’t take any of these brand’s positions, we’re just discussing the services that are out there. I also have to admit that we can’t directly compare early Vine and Instagram stats simply because Instagram just launched a new additional service, while Vine created a new product. Instagram has many users and is pretty stable in its position even without the video service. Anyway, they are both useful and interesting services, but given Instagram’s pre-existing user base and additional features, Vine will certainly need to step up to compete.