3 alternatives to Vine as Twitter kills its micro-video app

Twitter users were taken by surprise in recent days with the news that Twitter’s Vine micro-video app is being ‘shuttered’ – a polite way of saying killed off – so if short looping videos are crucial to your strategy, or even if you just like playing around with them, what are the most mainstream alternatives to Vine?

1. Boomerang from Instagram

Top of the list is probably Boomerang from Instagram. It’s quite close to Vine in terms of the core concept, as Boomerang takes a sequence of ten still images and ‘stitches’ them together into a one-second looping video.

It was announced in October 2015 and is available in app form via the iTunes App Store and Google Play for Android devices, and it comes with the peace of mind of a household name platform.

Notably, your Boomerang creations can be shared via Instagram itself, offering some of the integration into mainstream social media that Vine had, although sharing outside of Instagram is fairly limited.

2. Peeks Video, formerly Keek

If you’ve ever heard the word ‘Keek’ before, you probably thought it was just a way of pronouncing Kik Messenger, but it is – or was – a fully fledged short video sharing social platform.

As of autumn 2016, and coinciding almost perfectly with the retirement of Vine, Keek has become Peeks Video, but the core concept is the same.

Peeks Video is again app-based, this time not only on iOS and Android, but also for Windows Phone, and lets you create videos up to 36 seconds, shared to social networks, email, SMS and the Peeks Video site itself.

Interestingly, the platform supports video replies, too, allowing other users to post a 36-second response to your original clip.

3. Mobli and Galaxia

Mobli has gone under the radar but has always pushed the cutting edge of photo sharing – even adding features that the ‘big-name’ media sharing platforms only later included, such as certain filters and messaging options.

In 2016, the company also launched Galaxia, a social network that specifically supports multiple profiles and does not insist on using real names – allowing users to maintain multiple online ‘personas’ without logging out and in again.

The idea is to enable expression on a highly personal level, without revealing personal information, and used correctly this could prove intriguing for forward-thinking new-media businesses too.

But don’t try…

…Viddy, SocialCam or Klip. Although these all come high in the Google results when you search for ‘alternatives to Vine’, they have either officially closed down or vanished without a trace over the years, proof that with good SEO you can still create an enduring online presence that may even outlive your product!