AMERICAN ON VINE

After the initial buzz surrounding the launch peaked a few weeks back, I recently downloaded the Vine app for my iPhone 4GS, and quickly became obsessed with the new realm of creating / sharing six second clips in the same manner that I fell in love with Instagram (and twitter... and facebook... and blogging for that matter).

In a world where it seems like there is a new social media app-of-the-moment every few months, most people are resistant to adopting yet another platform into their already robust portfolios. So it begs the question, why bother with one more icon on your already cluttered home screen? For me, whether I'm acting as a photographer, copy writer, video director or editor-- or when I'm concepting marketing campaigns, the answer is simple:

I like telling stories.

Each channel lets me tell different kinds of stories. I love Vine because it's inspired me to look at things from a fresh perspective, and has unlocked a deeper form of narrative storytelling unseen in other social media sharing apps. A find myself searching for a completely different type of subject: telegenic opposed to photogenic, unexpected tableaux of motion.

The user interface and flow is also really nice. I like being able to control the "takes" and "shots" within each six second clip. It's already impressive to see the wide diversity of styles and results generated by the relatively small group of initial users. Hopefully, we'll continue see the community and stream of awesome content grow as more and more users join the network (which technically is run by and a part of twitter).

GET ON VINE. 

Follow me on Vine @ Jeff Cleveland
Download Vine here: https://vine.co/

Pete Cashmore Talks Connectivity & Technology For Good

"There's so much you can do when you're just MORE connected."

I just walked in the door from "another day at the office" and turned on NY1 to see semi-dreamy (?) techno-digi-social wonder boy Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of mashable.com.

Having worked in the Experiential Marketing / Brand Consulting realm for a minute, I was truly struck by the closing line of the interview.

"If we can just get the tools of connectivity into people's hands there's amazing, magical things they can do with it, far more than figuring out how to launch a media site from rural Scotland. You know? They can change the world, build trade in their countries, they can create livings for themselves they can become self-sustaining. There's so much you can do when you're just MORE connected."