Twitter launches its video sharing service Vine

SOCIAL NETWORK Twitter has launched its video hosting service called Vine.

Vine, which was bought by Twitter, is a video hosting service much in the same vein as Youtube or Vimeo. However as this is a Twitter enterprise, users can only upload videos that are six seconds long, which the firm claims encourages creativity.

Vine does its best to sell the idea that a six second video, which when embedded into tweets or other websites loops forever, has value by claiming that they are "a shortened form of something larger", as if that makes any sense.

Dom Hofmann, co-founder and GM of Vine said, "They're little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They're quirky, and we think that's part of what makes them so special."

Since Vine is owned by Twitter, embedding videos hosted on the service in tweets is a doddle for it. Howeve, six second videos looping on Twitter users' timelines sounds like a good way to get a headache... or an epileptic fit.

Initially Vine will be available only to iOS users, as the service requires users to download its free iOS app. The firm said that the app has been released worldwide. Shudder. µ