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January 25, 2013

Twitter introduces a new video app, Facebook blocks it

The microblogging service announced a new video service that allows users to capture and share brief, looping videos.

By Tineka Smith

The service uses the same brevity concept as tweets. Users are only allowed to capture a video in 6 seconds or less, which Twitter says "inspires creativity."

Vine, which was recently acquired by Twitter, says their company shares similar goals with the microblogging service.

"We want to make it easier for people to come together to share and discover what’s happening in the world," said Vine in a blog post. "We also believe constraint inspires creativity, whether it’s through a 140-character Tweet or a six-second video.

"Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special."

The new service, however, was not welcomed by Facebook.

Facebook has blocked the app from being able to find Facebook friends using the same service.

According to The Verge, when users try to search for their Facebook friends on Vine, a message pops up indicating the app is not authorized to make the Facebook request.

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Facebook and Twitter have a history of cutting support for each other’s service. Just last month Facebook’s Instagram suddenly cut support for Twitter photo cards.

When users click on Tweets with an instagram link, photos appear in a cropped view.

"This is due to Instagram disabling its Twitter cards integration, and as a result, photos are being displayed using a pre-cards experience," explained Twitter in a statement. "So, when users click on Tweets with an Instagram link, photos appear cropped."

The change by Instagram has added to the ongoing tension between the two companies.

Instagram’s CEO said that cutting Twitter support was "the correct thing for our business to do at this time."

He also claimed that the change had nothing to do with the company becoming a part of Facebook.

Vine is currently available on the iPhone and iPod touch. Twitter says it’s planning to bring it to several other platforms.

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