The Vine vortex: social media app gains popularity

What would you do for 234,178 likes? Would you trash your kitchen “trying to kill a bug”? Or how about for 501,769 likes? Would you run around the mall singing “I believe I can fly” while hitting strangers with swim noodles on your arms? Believe it or not, people do all of the above and more through a social media app, Vine.

It features the same qualities as the app Instagram, except with one small change. Instead of uploading pictures for other users to view, people now upload videos or “vines”.

Viewers can see anything from a dubstep cat to a guy dumping a milkshake on himself at the drive-through.

There’s one catch though—the video has to be 6 seconds long, no more, no less. The time limit enables users to share a video quickly and easily, and such a short time span makes vines more attractive for viewers.

“It doesn't use as much time to get to the good part of the video. That way I don't waste as much time not watching things I don't want, which makes it easier for me and more fun regarding watching and browsing videos,” said sophomore Camille Bismonte.

Six second videos may seem like nothing at first, but what doesn’t seem to be anything at first snowballs into hours and hours of vine addiction.

"I watched a few vines, but I was enthralled by the shortness and cool editing and effects of them. This inspired me to watch a lot more of them," said sophomore Izzy Braham.

Like most other high school students, entertainment is hard to squeeze in between all the extracurriculars and AP classes. So spending a measly 6 seconds watching a vine sounds like a good deal for their tight schedule.

“It made me feel less bad when I went [to the vines website]. One more won’t hurt,” said sophomore Gerui Sheng.

When the students do have a couple of minutes to waste, vines are convenient for instant amusement: what else can they do in 6 seconds that’s entertaining?

“[I watch them] when I'm waiting to get picked up, or if I arrived too early before a band practice. Anytime I have time to kill,” said Camille Bismonte.

Several pages have also popped up on Facebook newsfeeds, featuring “Best Vines” or “Most Watched Vines.” In a matter of a days, these pages and videos quickly racked up close to a million views and likes, feeding to people’s addictions. If you have liked these pages, you get a new vine on your news feed every couple of minutes, eliminating the need to go to the website itself.

Vine’s unique ability of getting the entertainment out in such a short period of time is what makes them so attractive to viewers.