Is Twitter getting desperate? The social network has been enjoying the limelight as its video sharing service, Vine, was making headlines for the last six months. But with the grand unveiling of Instagram’s take on social videos, it appears that Twitter has been sending out emails promoting Vine to the users that haven’t actually bothered to download Vine yet, reports TheNextWeb.
Instagram’s boasting after the first 24 hours of its video feature launch doesn’t help either. The app had 5 million videos created and uploaded on Instagram within the first day and as much as 40 hours of video uploaded per minute.
It’s not the first sign of Twitter’s aggressive competitive streak. The day of the video for Instagram release, Vine teased new features on their way … via Vine, no less. We broke down frame-by-frame what we expect to see from the app soon.
Instagram has 13 filters, image stabilization, and 15 seconds of recording time that (arguably) give it an edge over Vine for the time being, but if the updates appear to be what we think they are, then Vine will be more like a short-form YouTube platform that a quick video-sharing app. And, of course, there’s the fact that Twitter is prepared to bully users into downloading it.
Regardless of what Vine might become or it’s value, emailing people about a service that they haven’t signed up for is downright spammy. And considering that the emails were sent out almost immediately after Instagram’s announcement, we can’t help but call out Twitter’s desperation. We weren’t the only ones who thought the move was a little sad.
I just got an email from Twitter telling me ALL about Vine. Worried about something, guys?
— lissa (@lissa4) June 21, 2013