Vine vs. Instagram Silverback Social’s Director of Digital Communications Cristin Grogan Weighs In

Instagram video will be a tough sell. Not just because Vine was here first, but because the fun of Vine was the “challenge”, right? “How can you fit amazing content that speaks to your brand in a six-second video?” This question encouraged companies to get innovative, creating amazing stop-motion video content and other cool experiments (a personal favorite of mine was the Vine’d Burberry Men’s Fashion Show). While Instagram’s 15 seconds of video certainly allows for more content, it takes away from the “challenge” of a Vine. And what about the human psychology element here? Vine has already conditioned our attention span to a 6-second video. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve watched so many Vines that it’s getting harder and harder to watch a 2 minute video on YouTube. According to a study done by the Associated Press this April, the average attention span in 2012 was 8-seconds – and trust me – our attention spans will never get longer. Now that we’ve been spoiled by the 6-second Vine, I can’t see us regressing to a 15-second Instagram video. Honestly, I don’t think Vine has much to worry about: they not only created a platform that allowed creativity and innovation, but they allowed efficiency and human psychology to be part of the larger picture. Whether that was part of Vine’s plan or not, it was something that Insta just couldn’t bring to the table.