Instagram vs. Vine is not VHS vs. Beta

When I started writing this post, I went on a quest to figure out how I could embed this Instagram video from the great Chris Brogan. His point was exactly what I wanted to convey, and he said it better than I could.

The problem? Embedding Instagram videos isn’t exactly for the common user. iFrames, source code, bears, oh my. We could throw that video into this post, but, honestly, it’s just a video. Similarly, you aren’t uploading your Instavids to a YouTube channel – they are designed for the social network(s) on which they are built.

Those facts double down on Brogan’s point: Instagram and Vine aren’t about the tricks of the marketing industry. They are about users using what they want. The technologies are nearly identical, and they are about capturing something no one really has cornered yet – the true sharing of videos you record from your phone (remember Qik? Ah, I remember Qik). Fundamentally, these techs let you record videos from your phone and share it in one simple step with the network you choose.

Facebook has allowed video since 2008. I’d fancy a bet that there have been more original, non-YouTube-linked vids shared on Facebook since Thursday’s announcement then any single week in Facebook’s past.

Vine is designed for people who want to share videos within Twitter, with a little more flexibility and shorter content space. Instagram taps into its own incredible engagement within its single-serve network and then Facebook by proxy. Picking the wrong one here, as a marketer, isn’t like choosing Beta over VHS. Users will be using both, and the reasons for each may not even be specific to demographics. Brands should be users, too, of both, and then focus on what they are choosing to record – it is the content that will resonate, not just the network.

Dave Levy
Senior Account Manager

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