What Is Vine?

Today, Twitter launched Vine (free), a mobile service that captures and creates short looping videos for iPhone and iPod touch, and we couldn't wait to "gif" the app a try.

Vine cofounder Dom Hofmann said in his introductory blog post, "Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger." Sounds a lot like Twitter, doesn't it? That's precisely why the micro messaging service acquired Vine and integrated video created with the app directly into tweets.

To capture bits of video on Vine, point the camera at a subject like normal, hold down a finger to start the recording, and release to stop it. Users can start and stop recording as many times as they want, up to six seconds. Vine automatically loops the footage and prompts you to share on Vine, Twitter, or Facebook. Tap anywhere on the videos to pause the loop.

Unconvinced? We've got five reasons why Twitter's new video app Vine is absolutely download-worthy.