CONTRIBUTING WRITER

With the introduction of social media into our culture, brevity has quickly become a quality our generation appreciates. This is best exemplified by the different characteristics that define each media outlet. Statuses on Facebook present snapshots into the lives of our peers, while constrained 140-character tweets may give a play-by-play record of the thoughts of not only our friends, but also famous actors, athletes and even the pope.

The game changed when media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat allowed users to share only a picture, sometimes with a caption, to express an idea. The idea was expanded even further with new options of video sharing. In December 2012, Snapchat launched an update to its app that allows users to send videos up to 10 seconds long to contacts. This opened the door for new outlets like Vine, which was created in January 2013, quickly following  Instagram by adding a video option to its app.

While this appreciation of brevity may be seen as a regression in communication as our generation uses words less and less to communicate, I see these new forms of social networking as a positive.

Each application allows users to create videos under 15 seconds, the perfect length of time to hold a viewer’s interest without inconveniencing them or distracting them from other activities or obligations. Within a minute, viewers can experience a band in Brooklyn, the sound of waves in North Carolina, a walk past the Eiffel Tower and even what a celebrity ate for breakfast.

There is an intimacy in video watching and making. Through the videos, viewers experience life and experience from the maker’s eyes.

This is also how video interfaces inspire creativity in users. While it is easy to film surroundings walking to class or of a clip of a movie on TV, many users of Instagram video and Vine spend a lot of time creating ideas for their videos and even more time creating and editing the videos themselves. The ability to edit jump cuts into these short videos offers limitless possibilities of what creators can share in just six seconds.

Video sharing apps offer a new and possibly more efficient method of connecting with people all over the world. They promote a more globalized community.  Not everyone in the world speaks the same language, but we can all understand the sights and sounds an individual chooses to share with the world around him or her.

Christiana Shovlin, FCRH ’16, believes there is value in video sharing. She says there is a sort of “face-to-face value” of sharing videos and clips of your life as opposed to text messages, phone calls or posts on Facebook. However, it also depends on the social media outlet. Vine, she says, is not really important in terms of quality communication or interaction. With the decline in popularity of Facebook, though, she thinks that people will return to a more face-to-face method of communicating, hence the importance of video sharing apps.

Others, however, do not share this same view. Glen Morrice, FCRH ’16,  does not believesvideo sharing apps are superior to other forms of social networking. He says a minority of users will utilize the apps in innovative or creative ways, while most others will instead just make useless videos, , and not use the apps how they were intended.  He also thinks that the videos do not have the ability to communicate complete or thorough thoughts and that usage of these outlets promotes isolation as people may Snapchat each other videos “as they’re sitting right next to each other at lunch.”

Whether people like it or not, video sharing has become a part of our generation’s culture, may it be through Snapchats, or celebrity Vines or filtered videos on Instagram. As more and more users become accustomed to and begin to frequent these outlets, we may see more websites and more apps integrating the ideas of brief, attention-grabbing videos. This might be the next big “thing” in the ways of communication, or it could just be the next wave of social media that will flop terrifically and be forgotten in a matter of years. Until that is apparent, I will continue to send all my friends videos of my feet as I walk to class.

Regan Winter, FCRH ’16, is an Rnglish major from Westlawn, Pa