Twitter and Facebook are about to get some fresh competition in the social networking field. Microsoft Vine has just peeped its head above the parapet, and it’s a wee bit different from its rivals – it’s primarily designed to help you keep in touch with family and friends in any situation, whether it be the organisation of your five-a-side football team or a national disaster.
Inspired by the confusion that reigned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, where people struggled to keep in touch with loved ones in the affected areas, Vine takes some cues from the likes of Facebook and Twitter but is focussed more on keeping tabs on what is going on in the user’s local community.
Taking the form of a desktop widget dashboard, Microsoft Vine will allow officials to update local users in the event of an emergency, but at the same time could be used to organise a weekly football match, making sure everyone involved is instantly kept abreast of schedule changes etc.
A beta test is currently underway, and those that want to contribute can sign up at the official Microsoft Vine website, which also features video clips demonstrating how it works. It’ll be interesting to see how something so closely focussed on the user’s local area and community will compete – or more likely coexist with – firmly established systems like Facebook and Twitter.
Out TBC | £TBC | Microsoft Vine (via Brier Dudley’s blog)
