I am fascinated by the gif. By far, it is my favorite medium on the interwebs. A good gif loads well, is not long, and tells an amazing story or makes you bust out laughing – all without sound. That’s the kicker… gifs are more amazing because they are conveying stories/humor without sound. No punch lines. No fart jokes. Silent awesomeness.
Additionally, there is the art, and real gifmaking is an art, of the perfectly looped gif.
The I Can Haz Cheezburger Universe has created its own galaxies of hilarious gifs and animal stars, like Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub, and some of my favorite gif subjects, pugs:
Which brings me to my point: I love Vine, the relatively new Twitter creation, that allows for user created 6 second gif like videos. The controls are simple- you can either film an entire 6 seconds, or put your finger to the screen in small bursts to film a few seconds or fractions of seconds in order to get different frames. It’s simple, fun, and you can get insanely creative with it.
I won’t speak on Instagram Video, primarily because I have never gotten into Instagram because not being on iOS shot that one in the foot from the beginning, and I think 15 seconds is meh. You should just sign up for YouTube at that point, because apparently our lives are only worth 15 second adverts now (I’m looking at you Facebook).
The only thing I don’t like about Vine is the fact that you can have your Vine with sound (granted, some Viners do sound really well – see Eric Stonestreet’s recent Vines from his time in NYC). The first time I tried it, I thought sound wasn’t involved, which makes it harder to really create something funny or inventive, because you lose a sense, leaving really only one sense to engage your user, sight. I know that if Vine did not have sound to begin with, the beatdown that Instagram Video is giving it in the social media wars would be even worse.
I maintain the opinion though, as a craft, Vine would be better if it didn’t have sound. Linked is a prime example from Katherine Torres (@kthrntorres on the Tweeter) today on a non-sound based, funnily effective Vine.
Waiting on the #internet…. https://t.co/dXKyIJ5GTF
— Katherine E. Torres (@kthrntorres) August 1, 2013
Vine is actually perfect for these types of gifs, with the easy stop/start recording mechanism, and is a method I know that I personally overuse (I need to branch out and get more creative).
Only… The Horses. https://t.co/s2VIHCWzZP
— Joel Pettigrew (@therealjoelp) July 17, 2013
If you have ever played Portal 1 or 2, there are some good Portal-ish style Vines emerging, as well as an entire genre of Vines dedicated to 360 degree filming. With the stop/start function, stop motion video making has been opened up again to the whims of the people.
There are plenty of tutorials and examples out there, and honestly, if you are lacking on ideas, just start exploring and enjoying yourself and watch for techniques and styles you want to recreate until you can find your own voice (similar to how I’ve always tried to approach Prezi creation, and I also sounded like Sean Connery there).
I doubt Vines and Instagram Videos will drastically change the world of social media, while I also doubt they will die off completely (Vine, like Google+ will probably gain a reputation for being a 
).
But, get your Tweeter followers all tangled up in Vine, and get gif making. Make ‘em with or without sound, although I still think Vines are best when they can stand alone visually, much like a gif.
Bonus gif time:
