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Vine update adds front-facing camera and mentions

vine front facing camera
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Since Vine launched, we’ve all been busy experimenting with the GIF-like app – however, this has been limited since you can only use the back-facing camera. Not many of us have been too troubled about about a front-facing camera, unless we’re Adam Goldberg, a.k.a “The King of Vine,” who has a pretty good reason to want such a feature. But fear not: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to Twitter today and announced that Vines can now be recorded using the iOS’s front-facing camera.

We’ve seen a Film Festival take place using Vine videos courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival, and reporters have also made ample use of the app – so a front-facing option makes sense. To use this feature tap the button in the bottom left corner of the app to switch to the front facing camera. You can even swap between the front and back facing camera during the video recording process if your fingers are dexterous enough.

Dorsey also added that Vine users can now mention other users. How this works is that you can type in their username and select the appropriate person in the drop down list that pops up – exactly how it works in any other social app.

This is only the latest in a fairly long line of updates since Vine launched in January. Since then we’ve seen the introduction of Web embeds, and the ability to share Vines to Twitter and Facebook. And these updates are rolling out for good reason. This video sharing platform has not only been given some film festival spotlight, but we’ve also seen the first Vine trailer, and it was also used to capture footage of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Unfortunately there’s no word yet about an Android version of the app. In response to a request for comment, a Twitter spokesperson says there are no details to share right now.

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