Have you vined yet?

Vine is a new app from the makers of Twitter. It's a mobile service that allows you to capture and share looped videos. It's free to use and so simple! A really fun way of being creative. Currently, it is only available for iPhone (iOS 5.0 or above) but I'm sure an android version will be made available soon. 

WARNING!! You will get hooked! Not only does making the 6 second videos quickly become addictive but watching what other people create is just as engrossing. It's very inspiring and awesome what folks can come up with.

        The app is very easy to use. When it first came out it crashed quite a lot but this seems to be all sorted now. To make a video is very easy. You simply point your camera at what you want to film and touch the screen. Because Vine only records when you are holding your finger down, capturing stop motion videos becomes effortless.
         Only having 6 seconds of recording time forces you to be more creative with your filming and it's amazing what you can achieve. It certainly can make it more of a challenge. Vine does also record sound (there is no way of switching it off) so if you have music playing in the background and you are doing stop motion you get a jagged sound effect of what ever is playing. Again, if your clever about it, you can use this to your advantage.

So, how can you use Vine to promote your business/blog?

There are a number of ways you can use vine. So far, I've used it to. . .

• Show new collections from designers (this is the new S/S 13 collection from designosaurYEAH. This app is perfect for recording catwalk shows) . . . 

• Show off new purchases/stock (I bought these rings recently in a jewellery haul at New Look) . . .

• Be silly and creative! It is amazing what you can make in 6 seconds (this is a fun montage of my little girl, Molly. She loves dressing up!) . . .

• Show off new creations. I made this Valentines heart for a recent DIY post. I thought it would be fun to show it off with a little stop motion.

How to embed your vine videos into a blog post?

It is fairly easy to embed your videos into a post. There are two ways of doing it. You can either download VineGifR. This is only available for Mac and unfortunately I was unable to use this as my operating system is too old. 

If you are having the same problem, the other way to embed your videos is to use Vineit.co . The first thing you need to do is always make sure you share your videos to twitter.

1. Go to Vineit.co
2. Drag the blue 'Vineit' button to your bookmark bar.
3. When you come across a vine video on twitter, click on the 'Vineit' button and hover over the video. An embed code will appear.
4. Copy and paste embed code into your blog post. 
5. Adjust the sizes to 480px. I find this size fits perfectly on my screen (you don't have to do this though).

Et Voila! You have your vine videos in your blog. They should look how mine are currently posted.

Vine videos I love from other vine members

Drawing a rubber egg by Pinot

There's a message in my alphabet soup by Khoa

Honey, we really should consider moving to a safer neighborhood... by Kiel James Patrick

If you would like to follow me, you can find me under  Hooting Miss Owl.  I would love to hear what you think of this wonderful new app, and if you're already Vine-ing, any other tips you may have to use it to it's full potential would be mahoosively appreciated! Message me your Vine name and I'll follow you back! I can't wait to see what you come up with :)

Big love!

AKA Hooting Miss Owl

TOP FOUR VIDEOS TAKEN BY JENNIE DAVIES AND ARE SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT.

LAST THREE VIDEOS WERE SOURCED FROM VINE MEMBERS; KJP, KHOA & PINOT

PLEASE ASK FOR PERMISSION BEFORE USING