Some Lessons From Vine

USV is an investor in Twitter so I've been watching the Vine story closely. As AllThingsD reports, Vine continues to grow in the wake of Instagram's video feature launch. Vine is a top ten free app on iOS and top 25 on Android in the US. So the addition of video to Instagram has not seemingly hurt Vine very much.

I've asked my kids and their friends about this and I've observed behavior a bit and that tells me a few things:

1) the social pressure to post something great to Instagram is high among the hyperactive social media teens that make up an important cohort on these services. it's easier to take risks on Vine, where most people have less followers, than it is on Instagram

2) as a result Vine videos are funnier, edgier, and crazier than those posted on Instagram

3) scrolling through the Instagram feed casually looking through photos and liking them is interrupted by playing videos and many Instagram users I talk to don't end up playing a lot of the videos that are posted there.

4) Vine is all about video and so it does not suffer from the "being part of the photo feed" problem

Once again, it appears that the category creating innovator isn't hurt too badly when the bigger and more popular social platform copies their signature feature in their product. We have seen this before with Twitter and Facebook and Foursquare and Facebook and many other similar situations.

My guess is Vine will continue to grow in popularity as long as the Vine team can improve the service and make it better and better over time. And as a Twitter investor, I sure hope they do.

#mobile#VC & Technology

Comments (Archived):

  1. awaldstein

    Just a nudge that Instagram is more segment than age specific in my experience. Food, fashion, health are monsters and in my accounts, these cross every possible age segment.But you are right on about video on Instagram. Feels out of flow and behavior, and I don’t know of many who view and fewer in above segments who post.Video has been a datatype in search of a generation for generations now. I have personal scars to prove this. Maybe the time is now–I’m not certain.

    1. JimHirshfield

      If you view Instagram’s most popular tab, it’s mostly videos. So it’s popular to many.

      1. awaldstein

        Thanks, I’ll check. Just not seeing it in my clients populations though.Video is tough–to make with interest and to view as it is its own reality and creates its own space and time. Invariably pulls from the community you find it in.

        1. JimHirshfield

          Agreed. Videos in Instagram take you off on a tangential experience, which often feels out of place.

    2. SubstrateUndertow

      Maybe video is just too realtime to function as good memory compression.I’m already hard pressed to consume every waking moment of my own life as first hand realtime eyeVideo. For me squeezing in any secondhand video tracks requires they be high-value stuff.

      1. awaldstein

        Everyone has their formula. For myself I get 90 percent of what I need quickly. The last ten doesn’t usually matter.I want to spend ninety percent doing not researching actually.

      2. awaldstein

        My personal belief is that I get 90% of what I need for input in less than 10% of my time. Almost nothing I find past that usually matters.For me, keeping the percentage of productivity and creativity many x times the searching and playing is essential. Otherwise its simply social procrastination.

  2. William Mougayar

    Since Twitter passed on Instagram, and you said once it was a mistake;- well now revenge is sweet with Vine.

    1. awaldstein

      Instagram was hands down a brilliant acquisition for Facebook though.

        1. awaldstein

          I didn’t watch that (too long for me) but I’ll put it on the list.As someone who does some work and has a strong presence on Facebook and recently, more on Instagram, this just seems like an obvious to me.Thanks for the nudge to take a look!

  3. Kyle

    For me, I feel as though vine is more of about creative expression and instagram is about sharing life’s moments. Two very distinct uses and social graphs.

  4. Brandon Burns

    “the social pressure to post something great to Instagram is high”… as it is on Facebook, in comparison to Twitter”as a result Vine videos are funnier, edgier, and crazier”… as are tweets, in comparison to news feed updatesIts funny how the DNA of the parent company matches that of their subsidiaries, which were created by completely different teams.

    1. kidmercury

      No doubt. Cant escape lineage.

  5. Carl Rahn Griffith

    I wonder if it’s all about what we’re trying to connect to: often it’s something existential, I guess … http://carl-rahn-griffith.t

  6. Tracey Jackson

    As always my take is personal and not business related. I am beginning to feel this burden of having to be perpetually clever on these sites Not every sunset, latte or outfit change is “share worthy” as Instagram has made people think. I loved Vine for the first two weeks and then looked at these really pathetic seven second films I was posting. And at the majority of pathetic films others were posting as well. I lost interest.It is geared towards the young as the type of narcissism it can breed should make the older generation a bit more careful about what they post and when. Unlike Twitter where information, often very valuable, is shared, posting endless selfies or photos of shoes that then get 2000 likes is not nurturing taste but knee jerk group responses to things that are ultimately not that interesting or special.Though as Arnold says for the fashion and foodie folks it is nirvana. They have always dealt in vision bites. Now they are getting instant feedback.

    1. Carl Rahn Griffith

      Well said.

      1. Tracey Jackson

        Thank you.

        1. pointsnfigures

          There is a market for narcissism! Heh. You made a great point.

    2. awaldstein

      ‘vision bites’ good term, will reuse and attribute for certain.I’ll add exercise to the list of fashion marketing through pics. Seeing it as LuLi starts to sell into gyms and sports groups.

    3. Aaron Klein

      I like the social feedback of friends enjoying what I share.But I refuse to feel pressure. If you don’t like my stuff, don’t let the unfollow button hit you on the way out.

    4. William Mougayar

      We need you to write Guru II, in the age of Vine, Twitter and Facebook.He must be in his 40’s now? Maybe he will dispense advice on Vine πŸ™‚

      1. Tracey Jackson

        Or make his own very short porn videos!In the age of zero anonymity a story like that would be virtually impossible. I never even thought of it until you just mentioned it.Most of my films relied on a certain serendipity of events and people not knowing big hunks of information about the others. Couldn’t do it today.

        1. pointsnfigures

          Isn’t every porn vid a man would do “short” or too short from a woman’s point of view? (making a joke here)

    5. ShanaC

      Also, perpetually happy – i wonder if we are breading fake emotions

      1. Elia Freedman

        How do you mean “fake?” Aren’t the emotions real?

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          Maybe not fake emotions but maybe just slightly dysfunctional ones?

          1. pointsnfigures

            everyone becomes a standup comedian and the vids or photos create drama

        2. ShanaC

          I think they are often portrayals of a seemingly happy life, not what is happening internally

    6. Elia Freedman

      Vine is taking advantage of teenager’s natural tendency toward narcissism? Seems to me most activity on social networks are just that, giving us a rush of adulation that we wouldn’t normally get in life. Maybe this is bad: no one will do anything if they can’t have 500 likes associated. But maybe this is good: the democratization of celebrity culture means “celebrity” is no longer unique and we can stop watching it like some train wreck and get on to do more important things.

      1. Tracey Jackson

        It has been proven that receiving positive feedback for things not earned is detrimental to personal growth and heathy self-esteem. And your point about kids not doing things if they don’t get upward of 500 likes is spot on. But I fear it makes many feel that they deserve celebrity perks without the hard work that hopefully proceeds it.

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          Maybe thats whats wrong with me, my mom gave me too many unearned atta-boys πŸ™‚

          1. Tracey Jackson

            Could be.

        2. Elia Freedman

          You have a much more positive outlook regarding celebrity culture than I do. I don’t think there is any correlation between “hard work” and “celebrity perks” at all. πŸ™‚

          1. Tracey Jackson

            I have a very dim outlook on celebrity. At one time and it still exists for some hard work did have perks in the land of celebrity, Whether you like him or not, say Bruce Springsteen, he works very hard. He deserves the fame and perks that come with it. Plus he has a talent. In terms of the Real Housewives, Kardashianazation of celebrity, no real work there. But millions of Instagram followers!

          2. awaldstein

            I don’t care about how hard they work I care about how they wear the mantle.One of the changes the web has brought is the equation of celebrity = hero. Wasn’t always that way.How our heroes act is their test of being worthy of that status or not.

          3. Tracey Jackson

            Paging A-Rod.

          4. Elia Freedman

            Exactly.

          5. pointsnfigures

            Kids can still learn from A-Rod and the others. What not to do. The pressure in sports to perform and excel starts at a very young age. FYI, I am 51. We had kids doing steroids to get big when I was 14 (1977). Some became state champions. They probably didn’t need that edge, but they got huge. Always wonder what would have happened to me if I would have done that. Might have been a step quicker(my weakness). Of course, might be dead from liver cancer today too.Even with steroids, I wouldn’t have made the NBA. So I was better off. Back in the day I could have cheated in the trading pit and been way retired now. I didn’t. I know some that did. Some went to jail, but most did not.Gray lessons.

          6. ShanaC

            Do you really want to teach gray lessons

          7. Elia Freedman

            Good point. When I think “celebrity” I tend to think unearned. I don’t think of Springsteen as a celebrity, although of course he is.

        3. LE

          “It has been proven that receiving positive feedback for things not earned is detrimental to personal growth and heathy self-esteem.”I totally agree with that. But would point out that there are people (politicians and casino patrons) that are fully pumped up by false praise or praise not earned.

          1. Tracey Jackson

            You are right. The list is endless, But from what I see the app stuff goes on all day.

      2. Richard

        Great points

    7. Dave Pinsen

      For you, as an established screenwriter, trying to be perpetually clever may be a burden, but for aspiring screenwriters, comedians, etc., it’s an opportunity. And a number of them are pursuing that opportunity on Twitter directly (rather than via Vine or Instagram).

    8. LE

      “then looked at these really pathetic seven second films I was posting. And at the majority of pathetic films others were posting as well. I lost interest.”Artists are like that. You care about the quality of what you produce and aren’t interested in any praised that isn’t earned.

    9. Dave W Baldwin

      It is not so bad. The social app, representing the placing yourself on the web for all to see, starts at the infant stage proceeding thru tween to adolesence to maturity. No matter which new thing comes on board, it will go thru the silly. If that new thing truly scales, it will become useful and threaten the norm.

  7. JimHirshfield

    I’m on vacation, and Instagram (still images) has been my go to place for documenting the great things were doing around Montreal. I haven’t taken any video.Some of my followers may not be interested, but that’s OK by me. I’m not trying to impress any junior high school mates.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      You’re in Montreal? Me too! Until end of August. I heard there’s a great exhibition on right now – MosaΓ―cultures internationales – at the botanical gardens.DM me on Twitter if you want to meetup for lunch or dinner one of these days. πŸ™‚

      1. JimHirshfield

        Oui, Montreal with the fam. Here til Saturday.

  8. reece

    <video elitist=””> Vine != video</video>

    1. JimHirshfield

      Good point. It’s like saying gif is video. It’s not.

      1. reece

        exactly

  9. JamesHRH

    A category creating innovator is never harmed by a follow on service, in the aocial network space.

  10. LIAD

    I’m bored with all these apps.Apathy is the new engagement.

    1. JimHirshfield

      “Bah humbug”

    2. Carl Rahn Griffith

      Is there an app for that? πŸ™‚

      1. SubstrateUndertow

        There always has been but that App only runs natively on the wetware.Actually it has been a smash hit for decades πŸ˜‰

      2. jason wright

        appathy

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          Although meant as comedy when you think about it the higher hanging fruit on the networked-society tree will indeed be App-athy Apps.They will target reducing the friction involved in all forms of distributive-social-governance(community).They will help turn the internet the RIGHT SIDE UP !All those 100 trillion cells executing marvellous networking Apps just to prop up our daily personas, well, their cheering for us to finally start pulling our weight at the next platform level up.I think I see some of them jumping up and down, waving their arms, yelling over here over here we’ve got so hints for you!

        2. Carl Rahn Griffith

          Lol, brilliant!

      3. pointsnfigures

        kindle

      4. Nick Ambrose

        I didn’t bother looking. Maybe tomorrow.

    3. SubstrateUndertow

      Your being a trend setter and pointing to higher ground ;-)The internet is like Christmas it has some really exciting stuff under the tree but we can’t get to that until we finish pulling the silly stuff out of the stocking.

    4. CJ

      Come to Android, we don’t need apps for that. We have a computer in our pocket. πŸ™‚

  11. Carl Rahn Griffith

    I wondered if Vine was being nurtured to be the de facto video ad-platform to be embedded into Twitter, apropos IPO?

  12. Aaron Klein

    If anyone wants to fix their Instagram, tap your profile, then the settings gear, then turn “auto play videos” to off.No, Zuck, auto playing 15 second ads are not the future.

  13. kenberger

    i’ve actually witnessed an effect where I’gram’s offering has *boosted* Vine’s use, as it introduces people to this category of functionality and then they go looking for an alternative for whatever reason.1 such reason is a few people don’t want anything even vaguely connected to FB.(re “not hurt Vine very much”)

  14. AlexanderMPease

    Calling Vine the “category creating innovator” is extremely gratuitous. We looked at plenty of near identical options that came out in the same time frame: Keek, SocialCam, Viddy, etc. They’re all nearly identical with just minor variations. So I think Vine’s success speaks more to the power of marketing/association with Twitter, and just having a bit more polish than their competitors

    1. kidmercury

      for real. also, declaring any of these companies a winner is far too premature until someone rolls up with a definitive business model. right now, fb is closest, and some may say it has already proven itself (though i think it depends on expectations/valuations as well, and whether those were met). from this perspective i think integration is winning, as it has always done throughout history. vine itself is an integrated play given it is an extension of twitter. that twitter is pursuing a strategy of a full-blown platform speaks volumes of the lightweight strategy and where it must ultimately go after the cost and simplicity benefits have allowed it to gain user adoption.

      1. robertdesideri

        artist @origiful (ian padgham; spun himself out of twitter) has a business model. he’s using vine for adverts, uncertain of he’s going solo or building an agency. 6 second vines, when amusing, beat the heck out of preroll ads (hey @jason), don’t insult the viewer plus deliver something memorable. for example: http://origiful.com/vine/wo

    2. JamesHRH

      Alexander, not wanting to be a prig here, but…..The offering that captures the market creates the category. The other services do not create the category – they fail to create the category and become also rans.The fact that the differences in the product are minute is only of historical interest……..Vine is the innovator and the reason(s) they captured the market may seem unfair, but……that’s how the rock rolls.

      1. CJ

        To the victor goes the spoils. History is written by the winner. On and on…

      2. laurie kalmanson

        hipstamatic / instagram

      3. AlexanderMPease

        If you’re just making a semantic argument, then sure, maybe that is the exact definitionBut for VCs (and for context I work for Fred at USV), it isn’t just of historical interest that there are only minute differences between Vine, SocialCam, Viddy, etc. The other guys had similar products in the market months before Vine did; it’s not that the market wasn’t ready for them yet. So it’s very interesting to understand how and why Vine won from a distribution/marketing/virality perspective, b/c we never could have been the guys backing Vine. We would have been the guys backing the also-rans.

        1. JamesHRH

          Picking market creators is a mix of disncipline & judgement.USV uses themes, pricing & adoption levels as disciplines (there are others I bet). Then they judge the market & the founders, etc.From a pure marketing perspective, you drop the deal based metrics.I develped a simple b2b model that combines product attributes ( hard data discipline, in a sense) with business attributes ( judgements ).In social media, business attributes are weak factors – with the sole exception of distribution.It can look like semantics, but declaring to yourself that a market does not exist until someone creates it, is a good discipline.

  15. ShanaC

    I’m quite interested with the lower followers== more risk. Maybe limiting individual app connections is a good way to get the desired behavior for long term growth

    1. Elia Freedman

      But at some point the followers increase substantially because the number of people on the system grows. And then the risk is higher again. It’s an early adopter phenomenon in a lot of ways.

      1. Matt A. Myers

        It’s an interesting observation. Facebook doesn’t really facilitate this too well – I actually have a lot to say on the topic of what Facebook doesn’t properly facilitate, but that’ll wait for maybe an epic blog post in the future..

      2. ShanaC

        Which is frustrating and also explains the never ending tide of social networks

    2. laurie kalmanson

      this place is crowded nobody goes there anymoresecret club

      1. Matt A. Myers

        Shhhhhh….

    3. Bear

      I have noticed similar behaviour with a few friends on facebook who keep their number of ‘friends’ to a reasonable/realistic level (e.g. 100-150). They share more silly/intimate stuff and in turn their friends engage more with them. Hasn’t really worked out for Path though huh?

      1. jason wright

        Is Path still setting the limit at 150?

      2. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        PRICE OF GET POPULAR IS AFRAID OF NOT BE ANY MORE.NO GIVE IN. #STAYRISKY

        1. Matt A. Myers

          Amongst friends and/or onlookers?

        2. ShanaC

          Is popular worth it on an individual level

          1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            IT JUST A VANITY METRIC.

  16. andyidsinga

    I don’t really like vine apps and how they auto play stuff …but love seenive.com – especially will sasso’s vine via seenive http://seenive.com/u/908305…short story long – interesting 3rd party innovation already happening outside of core vine experience

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I bought vinefeed.com and vineplayer.com when Vine first came out. If my money wasn’t going elsewhere, I’d have a nice simple customizable experience for people.

      1. andyidsinga

        sweet

        1. Matt A. Myers

          I think a simple site with a good vine-related domain, obvious as to what it is, would be able to go ‘viral’ fairly easily.Maybe I should do an AVC crowdfunding to develop it – and then I can sell it off to raise seed money I need. :)Using Kickstarter to crowdfund (USV investment) development a third-party app using Vine (USV investment), and launch the campaign on AVC (USV partner…)?And then put it up for sale on AngelList (USV investment); not sure that’s possible.Am I missing some other connection? Oh, well, promote it on Twitter of course – and I guess can still include Tumblr in there. πŸ˜›

        2. Matt A. Myers

          Looks like they don’t want you using ‘vine’ in domain names … so scratch that plan. πŸ™‚

        3. Matt A. Myers

          Maybe I can turn them into some wine-related websites instead. πŸ˜›

  17. JimHirshfield

    Funny thing appeared in my inbox this morning. Looks like biz dev partnerships also help Vine…

    1. Matt A. Myers

      Tapping into creative people who find Vine fun to use, with the result of Airbnb getting promoted for free.

      1. JimHirshfield

        Genius for someone.

  18. laurie kalmanson

    not a lot of vine videos posted to this thread

    1. Matt A. Myers

      There are a few more now that it’s later in the day..

      1. laurie kalmanson

        heh heh heh

  19. brianwats

    CONSTRAINTS!All of the factors you mentioned are true, but the reason why Vine is taking off is because of the six-second constraint.Constraints encourage creativity.When the best Viners create videos, they come up with an idea firstβ€”and then use the medium to express it.Viners are creators, not “sharers” (what Instagrammers do), and they keep pushing the boundary as to what’s possible on the service.i.e., the mirror trick: https://vine.co/v/hbY9h27aPWdi.e., telling a story: http://seenive.com/v/942877…As a result, Vine videos are witty, interesting, and downright hilarious.and btw, I think many folks would be surprised at how many Viners have 1mm+ followers already. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I made a blog post about Vine a little while ago with the same view …”Vine is about forcing creativity and curation of the visual world around us. 6 seconds really limits the amount of content you include in order to tell a simple story. The 140 character limit on Twitter, whether purposeful or not initially, also forces this creativity and simplifying a message to give as much meaning possible in as little space possible.”http://mattamyers.tumblr.co… if you want to read the rest.

  20. jason wright

    when i read about this stuff i don’t get the feeling that i’m missing out, that i’m living a lesser life because i don’t use it.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      There have been times when I’ve seen something that would look cool on Vine or other creative-like apps/tools – though my mind is elsewhere most of the time, and not so much of jumping into the ‘be creative in the moment’ which most of those apps require as a pre-requisite; I’m sure once and if I ever have people I want to show off to, for whatever I’m making content of, then I’ll certainly become a user.

    2. Drew Meyers

      I’m with you on that. I don’t think i’m missing out by not using instagram or vine at all. There are more productive things worth doing than spending my time browsing that stuff.

  21. pointsnfigures

    It’s very interesting how this all segments out. Sometimes the cannibalization of the FB wall becomes a game changer, category changer and sometimes not. Snapchat, Vine, are ones to be watched. How are they building value? Can you build value just by sending something that makes people laugh? Very possible. Pinterest and Twitter are game changers. There are loads of other apps as well. It’s a crowded space.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I see them as tools for creativity, or at least that is the biggest value it can provide. Entertainment is the other side of the coin, along with annoyance. Similar can be said with Twitter’s values and annoyances.

    2. laurie kalmanson

      see tumblr

  22. Amit Wadhawan

    At some point Facebook (and their acquisitions) will figure out that copying Twitter or any other emerging innovations is not going to pay off as much as they thought πŸ™‚

    1. Matt A. Myers

      Well, it’s because they’re not the ones understanding the underlying theory behind it. Similarly with Facebook’s foundation of Mark Z. not actually having come up with the leading metric of exclusively requiring a Harvard email address to connect to the network (thereby causing curation in a high-quality way, with people know others who join).

      1. Amit Wadhawan

        Right. It’s not the “feature” itself but the reasoning behind it and how it connects with everything else on the platform that really matters.

        1. Matt A. Myers

          It really makes me wonder what their internal game plan is, and how they see it fitting in with how the internet works, how people function on the internet, and where it is all leading towards …

          1. laurie kalmanson

            they’re racing toward people in developing countries on feature phones

  23. Teren Botham

    Facebook + Instagram = Twitter + Vine ??

    1. Matt A. Myers

      Instagram released video capability not too long ago, with a maximum 15 seconds length. It was said to be Facebook’s answer / copy of Vine.

  24. Susan Dayton

    I often query youth about their preferences in social media. I work at an Origins cosmetic counter and offer people free makeovers then take a picture for social media use. I am more interested in younger folk since I have a better chance of getting a lifelong commitment to the brand that I am selling. Overwhelmingly, it is instagram for the average buyer. Do not be swayed with the seemingly artiste that Vine appeals to.

  25. ObjectMethodology.com

    Hey Gadgeteer… I just saw over on Feld.com that Brad is invading your territory with a NY incubator. πŸ™‚

  26. FAKE GRIMLOCK

    HOW TO MAKE TERRIBLE HAMMER: ADD SCREWDRIVER TO IT.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      Is it an automatic hammer / screwdriver?

  27. pointsnfigures

    first time I have seen VIne used in product advertising. Check out dudeproducts.com hit the “dude wipes” tab.

  28. jonathanjaeger

    Vine is choppier and allows for more ‘meme-worthy’ clips and inside jokes. Instagram video is used by people who were already using Instagram for photos and not part of the inside-joke/clever video crowd. I think it’s how the Vine crowd was seeded that helped make it interesting in a different way than Instagram video ever will be.

  29. iamjohnstokes

    I can’t quite believe you wrote that Fred….”Once again, it appears that the category creating innovator isn’t hurt too badly when the bigger and more popular social platform copies their signature feature in their product.”Vine is the category creating innovator? I don’t think so. The category creating innovator was Cinemagram and Vine (ie part of the bigger and more popular Twitter) has “copied” their signature feature.In fact we “exchanged” on Cinemagram 12 months ago and to paraphrase your only comment at the time “It doesn’t work on Android”.

    1. fredwilson

      i guess i should have chosen my words more carefullymaybe i should have said the “breakout product”

  30. awaldstein

    Video is its own experience.Many have tried to build it into a communal online experience. None to date have succeeded.

  31. JimHirshfield

    No doubt.

  32. Aaron Klein

    Easy to fix.

  33. Tracey Jackson

    I agree with you. But I think for many there comes an addiction to the adulation “Fifty people liked my photo of my tennis racket.” So it becomes competitive and self serving and not for enjoyment or to capture memories which is the way all of us who are not professional photographers have historically taken photos. Now they have to be messed with and photo shopped and if they are not adequately responded to they are somehow not good. The moment is not to be captured but approved of by others. I see this with my kids all day.

  34. Elia Freedman

    I understand, but that’s not why that picture gets shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. You captured the moment when you took the picture.

  35. William Mougayar

    If you want to see likes on instagram, check Jamie Oliver. He gets 25,000-40,000 Likes and 200-400 comments on anything he posts.

  36. Carl Rahn Griffith

    Absolutely. The obsession with ‘selfies’ is narcissm beyond belief. What are we creating here? They all look the same – boys and girls – and when it is an adult doing it… even more unsettling.Don’t even start me on obsessive food pics.We finally created Frankenstein.I feel like Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes…

  37. LE

    Yeah but look at the upside (in addition to learning valuable skills like photoshop). The effort that they put in is effort that not everyone is willing to put into getting likes. I think that’s valuable and shows something. They are willing to go after something and work hard toward it. Isn’t that really the same as being good at baseball? What’s the value in hitting the ball if not for others thinking you are great for hitting the ball?

  38. awaldstein

    You need to come over and hang out.Life ain’t perfect but it ain’t bad at all.

  39. SubstrateUndertow

    “and when it is an adult doing it… even more unsettling”How about an App that makes it easy for kids to morph their parents faces into those ‘selfies’.

  40. pointsnfigures

    I think the social pressure point is the most salient. Kids taking risks with Snapchat and Vine, and won’t on Instagram. Very interesting.

  41. Carl Rahn Griffith

    Lol, yikes. It’d get at least 400k downloads πŸ˜‰

  42. Carl Rahn Griffith

    I’d love to, Arnold, but I haven’t even been able to afford my passport-renewal this year… :-/

  43. awaldstein

    That’s a scary metaphor my friend:- Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes…One of uncontrolled rage, despair and resignation. I was trying to lighten it up!

  44. Andrew Kennedy

    great point. i think one is better than the other.

  45. chickachick

    Nice. However, my feeling would be that this moment is a huge cinema momentum that suddenly lets the character and his feelings in the background. We are suddenly propelled out of the narrative and the story-time into some abstract, metaphoric, brutal and definitely cinematographic dimension. We are given a key for the story and a new filmic/film-made symbol out of an already existing powerful symbol. I would not dare so much to bet here on the character’s feelings, but I have to relate this immediately to the author’s feelings and to wonder about the creation process, as vision, mystery, transcending assertion, and personal experience of the world. Far from the narrative, far from the character. (sorry but i’m a huge fan of this feature). Last, I must say that this movie was made long before the emergence of apps (this is not PLANET OF THE APPS lol). So your current reaction, which I just partly share, can be experienced in the same definitive way in other circumstances it seems. Meanwhile, humanity goes on looking for its ways to share, express, and communicate.