Instagram vs Vine: Battle of the video-sharing apps

Instagram has rolled out its answer to the popular short-format video app, Vine. With this, the battle between two popular social networks, Facebook (acquired Instagram in April last year ) and Twitter (acquired Vine in October last year) intensifies. While Vine is a standalone app backed by Twitter, Instagram has introduced the video recording mode within the Instagram app. This also means Instagram’s video sharing service already has 130 million users compared to 30 million users that have been using the Vine app. Though both video-sharing apps are more or less the same, there are several attributes that differentiate them from each other. We take a closer look at Instagram video mode and the Vine app to know which one is better.  

User Interface
Vine has a simple and straight forward interface. The recording screen comes without any bells and whistles and has been kept minimal with the camera icon that lets you switch between rear and front cameras (iOS only), status bar and “Finish” button. Instagram follows suit, with almost a similar recording screen but also has a big red record button, an undo button and the rear/front camera switching option (iOS only).  One can easily switch back to the Instagram photo mode from the shooting mode. 

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Both Vine for iPhone and Instagram for iPhone allow switching between the front and rear cameras easily even while shooting. The Vine Android app doesn’t support front camera at all while Instagram for Android lets you either use the front camera or the rear camera but one cannot switch between the two. Instagram also lets you select a screenshot of the video, which can be posted as the cover of the video. As Instagram has picked design cues from Vine, we think the veteran short video format service bags all the brownie points here.

Creating quick 15-second videos

Length
This is one of the key aspects that differentiate both  video sharing services. Vine lets you shoot quick six second videos while Instagram stretches it further by nine seconds for an overall 15-second clip. With a mere six seconds, Vine requires its users to be quick, accurate and get to the point instantly. On the other hand, Facebook has stretched the timing, allowing users to shoot for a little longer as they believe six seconds could be really a small span of time. The news has it that this isn’t the only reason why Facebook chose a 15 second clip. Reportedly, Facebook plans to introduce video ads during fall, which are expected to last for 15 seconds. Clearly, this will allure video advertisers to drop their 15 second advertisements on the video service too. However, this has a flip side as users could get really bored with the additional time. If a video is boring, then the 9 additional seconds could appear to be really long. 

Twitter has always been the social site of fewer words, while Facebook lets you express more. Some folks say, Vine is the Twitter and Instagram the Facebook of video sharing services. Eventually, this would leave users to choose a longer or a shorter video format depending upon what they plan to shoot and how lengthy the video needs to be.  

Looping
A Vine video follows the looping format which means it continously plays the video over and over again until you interrupt it, which is apt considering the video is just six seconds. Vine’s looping feature is one of its highlights and quite a hit with comedy and uber-creative clips. On the other hand, Instagram video can be viewed once again with just a tap on the screen. Obviously, it is longer compared to the veteran Vine app and leaves the choice to users if they want to view it again. Here, Vine gets the brownie points for introducing looping and turning a six second clip into an endlessly playing piece of art. 

Recording & Editing
Vine users can record a video by tapping anywhere on the screen, which fills the six second status bar seen above the screen. It shoots as long as you press and hold your finger on the screen and stops recording as soon as you release your finger. The iOS version will let you switch between the front and the back camera. However, if you make a mistake then you will have to shoot the video all over again.

The Instagram video app follows a similar shooting process but has a large red recording button while the 15 second status bar takes position below the screen. Each time you release your finger while shooting, the Instagram app records that scene in an editable format. This allows users to undo only that particular scene and re-shoot it, without the need to record the entire video again. Instagram also lets users edit the video using filters. They can apply and preview every video before posting it. Besides, Instagram lets users adjust the focus and exposure while recording. Clearly, Instagram has an edge over Vine, when it comes to shooting and editing.

Sharing
Both apps allow adding captions, location and sharing it on social sites. Both Vine and Instagram allow liking the post and also adding a comment. Vine users can post it to the Vine user base, Facebook (now also available for Android), embed on web and obviously Twitter. Instagram allows sharing video on Instagram, Facebook and Twiitter. Moving a step ahead, Instagram also lets you share videos with Tumblr and Foursquare.

Vine comes with undo and editing options

Explore
Vine’s Explorer feature is quite efficient at discovering videos. It has a neatly classified the Editor’s Pick, trending videos and even the popular ones. Instagram isn’t very good at discovering new videos as there isn’t any provision to filter video content from still photos. Instagram’s Explore feature isn’t very helpful compared to Vine. 

Verdict
In a nutshell, Instagram’s video service isn’t something original or novel, and has picked cues from Vine. However, Facebook has added some noteworthy features such as adjusting focus and exposure, 13 filters and the undo option, making it simpler to edit videos on the go. It also offers more video sharing options. On the other hand, Vine has a neat interface, better video discovering capabilities and looping format. A few timely updates could work wonders for it, but for now Instagram’s video mode has an edge over Vine.