The instant-video market has a new competitor courtesy of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, two of the brains behind YouTube.
MixBit – New Competition for Vine and Instagram
MixBit is a video creation and sharing community. MixBit’s main feature is an app (currently only available for iOS, but coming soon to Android according to their website) that allows users to shoot and edit video on their device. Videos can be as short as 1 second, and as long as 1 hour. Much like Vine and Instagram (which appear to be the direct competitors for MixBit at this time), users can simply touch the screen to record, and combine a number of shorter videos to create longer ones. Editing allows you to scrub and cut pieces of your original videos, reorder and duplicate the videos, all allowing the user a stronger sense of creative freedom. You can share to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ directly from the app.
The MixBit website serves as more of a community network and allows users to remix and re-edit other users’ videos and share. Both the app and website feature the ability to view and discover videos from other users, including a featured section and a recent section.
Initial Reaction
The app is very easy to learn and offers a quick tutorial upon first launch. Using the app to record and create videos requires no sign-up or registration, however using the website features and remixing other users’ videos requires a quick registration and confirmation, all easily completed from your iOS device.
Recording video is simple. A quick touch of your screen in landscape mode (which allows for use of the full quality of your device’s camera) will record video as long as you are touching the screen. Like Instagram and Vine, you can then immediately record another video in addition to the original. The process is smooth, and more intuitive than the other services. Editing is quick, and sharing to your social networks is smooth and easy.
The design of the app is very clean and attractive. Simple buttons and gestures help you navigate the content quickly. Overall the learning curve is low and use becomes easy with a couple quick trial-and-error sessions. The look and feel of the video discovery feature is probably the weakest at this point. Recent appears to display a stream of videos as they are happening. Featured is a curated list of exceptional or highly-viewed videos (each displays a view count similar to YouTube). While not as clean as the recording function, the viewing and discovery platform accomplishes its task and will only get better and smoother with revisions.
Who is MixBit For?
MixBit has a couple elements that set it apart from the Vines of the world and help it to have a more interesting range of uses. First, the ability to share videos up to an hour is a feature that will attract filmmakers, storytellers, and businesses. MixBit also has a very interesting set of community guidelines essentially laying the groundwork for more artistic use, including clear statements on the use of violence and nudity. If you are interested in using video to tell your story, artistic or business, home video or other, you will find MixBit an excellent option.
Should You Download It?
MixBit is an easy-to-use video tool perfect for filmmakers and moms alike. The app is currently available as a free download in the iOS App Store. Get it, try it out for yourself, and start sharing videos with the world.
