Vine debuts desktop viewer with Web profiles and full-screen viewing

By Kate Knibbs January 3, 2014

vine debuts full web profiles screen viewing for

We’ve been able to watch Vines on the Web since the app’s beginning, but you couldn’t click on a username to see a full profile or navigate the looping video app from the Web at all – until today. Vine has expanded its Web features to include a desktop viewer experience that lets users trawl the Web to find their favorite video creators and friends.

To look at Vine online, users can go to vine.co and enter their username to get a robust Web version of the app – the home feed is available, and you can like or comment on videos. Vines will autoplay as you navigate the homepage, and you can share your user page with others.

This is a little late-coming from Vine. Presumably, the Vine team wanted to focus on mobile first, but it’s much more convenient to be able to access social networks no matter what platform you’re on. Instagram was also belated when it came to developing a Web app, and it is still noticeably stripped-down compared to its mobile version (you can’t use the Discover function, for instance). Vine’s Web app appears to be similarly devoid of search functions, which is a bummer – why not just give the Web version full functionality?

One cool extra: The “TV Mode” allows for full-screen viewing from the Web. You can click the TV icon in the righthand corner, and the video will expand to fit your screen.

I don’t know if this expanded functionality will bring new fans to Vine, but it should help boost user engagement, since it gives users another way to browse through videos. Increased engagement may turn casual users into more enthusiastic fans. But, again, it’d be better if Vine offered the same feature set on the Web as it does on its mobile version.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…

Mobile

Vine update for iOS lets you follow channels and post straight from Photos app

vine ios update

Self-described as "the best way to see and share life in motion," the developers behind Vine have been gradually adding new features over the 20 months since its release.

In fact, another update for the iOS version of the short-video app landed Tuesday, improving the experience for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users while adding some new features for Vine users on all iDevices, new and old.

Mobile

Vine update allowing users to import video clips marks big change for service

major vine update means users can now import video clips

In a move that looks set to affect the quality and overall feel of the content on short-video service Vine, the iOS app now allows users to import existing video from other apps, while a number of new editing tools have also been introduced. Android users will have to wait a little longer for the update to reach them.

The Twitter-owned startup will be hoping the changes lead to a boost in its user base now that it offers far greater flexibility in how videos are created.

Social Media

Tweets and Vines set to hit US movie screens this summer after deal with ad firm

movie theater

Twitter and Vine are gearing up to move beyond smartphones and desktops and into movie theaters. That's right, folks, tweets and videos from the popular social media platforms will from this summer start showing up on the silver screen, after Twitter sealed a deal with in-theater ad firm National CineMedia (NCM).
Actually, we first heard about the initiative last year, though it's only now that more details are beginning to emerge.
According to Variety, NCM-affiliated theaters will screen a new one-minute sequence each week, featuring a mix of "trending movie and entertainment content powered by Twitter and Vine," with the first one to be shown this summer across its 21,000 screens in 1,700 theaters.
The new pre-movie material could turn into a decent money-spinner for both Twitter – which also owns Vine – and NCM, as long as they can get enough sponsors interested. Talks are reportedly underway with Samsung, Microsoft, Best Buy, and Taco Bell to provide some of the content for the ad-based shows.
“For the first time, advertisers will be able to connect their ad on the big screen with the audience’s mobile device," NCM president Cliff Marks said when the initiative was unveiled.
Despite being constantly reminded to switch off and put away smartphones before a movie starts, audience members will instead be encouraged to pull out their devices and get directly involved with the 60-second segments via hashtags. Come up with a clever tweet or Vine and your contribution could be included in a future show.
So if you're planning on hitting the big screen this summer but are still waiting for the call from your agent (hang on, you don't have an agent), it looks like you might have to go the Twitter/NCM route instead.
[via AdWeek]