'Vine Kids' for iOS Launches With Streamlined Interface and Focus on Kid-Friendly Content

[MacRumors]

Six-second video sharing service Vine today announced Vine Kids, an app that skews towards a younger generation and is meant to act as a hub for kid-friendly content that may be harder to discover on the original app.

In the announcement, Carolyn Penner, Head of Communications and Marketing at Vine, states the idea for the app came from a colleague's daughter and her infatuation with the video-clip sharing service. The idea came to her during Vine's "Hack Week," a period where the company encourages employees to set aside normal duties and begin brainstorming and working on brand-new ideas.

The easy-to-use app doesn't require an account for a user to follow anyone else, offering a newsfeed-style curated list of six-second videos picked by the Vine team that kids can easily swipe left and right through.

We've seen for ourselves - and heard from parents, siblings and others - that kids love Vine. So, we built Vine Kids, a simple new app that gives young children a fun way to watch Vines. Through adorable animated characters, kids can watch videos that are appropriate for a young audience. Swiping right or left shows a new Vine, and you can tap the screen to hear quirky sounds.

Acquired by Twitter in the summer of 2012, Vine has seen a handful of updates over the years, slowly adding more functionality to its camera suite and social features. The Twitter-owned service met a few scandals early-on when a sexually explicit Vine accidentally became an "Editor's Pick" on the service, violating Apple's terms of service.

Vine Kids is available to download for free from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: 'Vine Kids' for iOS Launches With Streamlined Interface and Focus on Kid-Friendly Content

 

[OddyOh]

This will end well.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Ok, I'm checking it out...
and this may actually be the best app in the AppStore.

 

[al256]

Every time I see that shihtzu I feel sad. I, don't want to know what happened to that dog.

 

[nostaws]

1. that dog's head looks decapitated, and the dog looks dead.
2. Let's shorten attention spans a little more by getting kids on vine. Vine is like video crack cocaine for kids brains.

 

[wolfaaron]

Get them while theyre young. These apps are short lived just like the 30 second memory span of their audience so they might as well milk it with as big of an audience as they can. Or maybe this will extend the life of their app because their new audience would have grown up with the app.

 

[andeify]

Marnie!!!

 

[vashspike]

Every time I see that shihtzu I feel sad. I, don't want to know what happened to that dog.

That's Marnie, he leads a happy life on Vine/Instagram as a celebri-pet. Not sure what led to his handicap but its made him a popular pooch.

 

[captain cadet]

Social Networking and Video Sharing for kids never end well...

 

[ILikeAllOS]

Is this why Vine banned porn from their service?

 

[Jessica Lares]

I think people are assuming they can upload their own videos... No, the COPPA doesn't allow for that.

Nothing wrong with this. They're going to watch videos on their iDevice anyway. The problem is that all these services are designed for 13+, and there are a lot of 7-12 year-olds who still watch videos on YouTube anyway. (I was already uploading my artwork online for a few years before they passed this law. )

I think this is going to become a bigger deal, and that Google will followup with their own curated app.