There is a school of thought that says limitations can actually spur creativity rather than hinder it. Vine is a mobile app that seems to follow this philosophy. Vine is an iOS-only (for now) app that allows you to capture 6 seconds of video (and sound if you want). The only controls are pause – no editing or post-production. Then, you can post your Vine video to your Twitter account as a tweet, where they automatically and continuously loop. Think of it as a “moving picture”, or may be a GIF with sound. At first it may make you ask “What’s the point?”, when we can take full HD video, edit on our phones, and share with the world in literally minutes? But, ever since Twitter bought them earlier this year, Vine has been getting more and more attention, in large part due to the creative ways people have been making use of this very simple social sharing app, from stop-motion shorts to carefully-constructed and captured vignettes. Comedian Will Sasso, who was on the long-running FOX sketch comedy show “MADtv” and in the recent “The Three Stooges” reboot, has been pumping out a series of comedic Vine videos that have garnered him some attention. (Note: Some content may be not-safe-for-work.)

Will Vine help me gain customers and traffic to my website? Maybe. It depends on the “tone” of your product/service and website. Most of the Vine videos are humorous/fun/comedic in nature, and that may be just the thing you need to differentiate yourself and show your lighter side. Since Vine is owned by Twitter, the preferred method of sharing is through your Twitter account, but Vine recently introduced the ability to embed your Vines on a webpage too.

Will Vine be around this time next year? In five year? Who knows. The internet and social media landscape changes quickly. It may be the next Twitter, but could be the next Digg (remember Digg?).

Here are some other examples of how content creators are using Vine, courtesy of Unruly Media.

Vine is available on the iOS app store.