Is Bite-Size Video the Next Big App?

May 21, 2012

If you’ve been bitten by the Instagram bug, you might be ripe for another social media sharing bite in the very near future. Where there are now cleverly cropped and filtered photos streaming into your smartphone and tablet, there will soon be full motion video. Among the many products vying for the title of “Next Big Thing,” video sharing apps Socialcam and Viddy are buzzing loudly for our attention. Read on to find out why.

Socialcam (Free) – Though currently the work of just a three-person team, one member of the Socialcam crew is none other than Justin Kan, co-founder of popular video streaming site Justin.TV; let’s just say they know a thing or two about web video. The app records videos of any length, which are then stored on Socialcam’s servers for immediate viewing by your friends. Sharing is done via a subscriber feed much like Instagram’s, as well as in-app link sharing via Facebook, Twitter, and a growing list of other social media networks. While you can add stylistic filters to the video, there are no other editing functions built into the app itself, which is instead focused on the more raw experience of letting a friend look directly through the eye of your camera at whatever it is you’re looking at, right then and there. The immediacy of Socialcam’s shoot-upload-share format results in highly personal videos, but also ones that suffer from the amateurish production quality and shaky presentation that plagues most homemade cell phone videos. However, if your friends are good at taking videos, Socialcam is great at getting them to you.

Viddy (Free) – While the sharing functionality of this app is similar to Socialcam, with user feeds and social media linking, Viddy goes a long way to create a more unique and stylized experience than its rival. For starters, videos are limited in length to 15 seconds. Much like Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, Viddy wants to discourage lingering on any one video and provide room in your feed to as many new experiences as possible, one after the other. To make those 15 seconds worthwhile, however, the app provides a ton of editing options, such as control over sound, effects, transitions and purchasable sponsored “brand packs” to celebrity-ify your efforts and make it look like you know Snoop Dogg.  It takes a bit more work and relies heavily on the user’s tasteful discretion, which can’t always be counted on. In the end, the result is more like a purchased postcard than a handwritten letter.  But for those who want to use them, Viddy provides plenty of tools for producing one-of-a-kind micro-films.

 

Alexei Bochenek is a lifelong tech nerd & film buff based in Los Angeles. When he’s not playing with his phone, it’s because the movie has started. Shhhhh!