On the 22nd October this year Instagram released a new stand-alone app that allows users to create Gif style video loops. With its uncluttered and comfortably sleek interface Boomerang is a great example of a micro-video sharing app, and no matter how hard we try we just can’t seem to throw it away.
Boomerang works this way – users take a burst of five photos that are then combined into a single one second video that is played back and forth on loop. The app doesn’t have its own feed so it has clearly been designed to compliment Instagram and to assist users in frequently creating quality, engaging original content.
These clips, or “Booms” as we like to call them, are automatically saved onto the user’s camera roll and are easily shared to various social networks from the platform. Users do not even have to log in or have an Instagram account – which is a thumbs up for usability in our book.
Isn’t it just a tiny Vine?
Although the concept bares resemblance to Twitter’s Vine app, in essence it really isn’t the same thing at all. While it takes a certain amount of skill to create a successful Vine, crafting a jolly Boom (I plan on making that a thing before the end of this article) is simpler. Good Vines normally require a pun or at the very least a central idea. A Boom is really just a silly expression of a movement and also a nice way to immortalise a moment.
What is the target audience?
While Boomerang isn’t a network in itself, it is clearly an Insta-add-on. Instagram is in competition with Snapchat for the teen market so it could well be an attempt at making the network more attractive for younger users. That said, if older users with a creative eye for detail get their hands on it, we could find our feeds full of fantastically flamboyant (flantastic?) Gifs.
Could it prove useful for businesses?
