Six-second videos? That's Vine with me.

It's here, the all singing, all dancing embeddable (but not edible) Vine, an application that publishes six-second videos that embed in tweets. It generated plenty of excitement when it was revealed (who doesn't get excited about steak tartare?), but  a lot of people were also left pondering the value of six-second videos.

Feed full of " #myfirstpost" Vines, but none you'd ever use or watch but for novelty. We'll see, I guess.
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) January 25, 2013

He's right, a lot of people posting Vines were trying to get a feeling for the application, and trying to work out exactly what the heck to do with it. It isn't surprising that many of the early experiments were less than compelling.

Despite this, I have seen some strong early examples of how Vine can work for non-profits and cause-focused organisations. Check out this one from Diabetes UK:

Hi @crawls18 - we made you a little video... Keep it going! #thankyou vine.co/v/b5tnVIVjt2M
— Diabetes UK (@DiabetesUK) January 25, 2013

A beautiful example of fundraiser engagement with a really warm, personal touch. The six-second video really suits this sort of engagement.

The Dogs Trust were also very quick off the mark with their first attempt:

@pdarigan @jamesrbuk Ta! @dogstrust have just published this one, which I like: bit.ly/10J14pt
— Joseph Freeman (@JosephFreeman) January 25, 2013

A compelling combination of a good cause, cute animals and a channel that makes sharing the call-to-action exceptionally easy. I love it.

We will need to wait and see if this really takes off, but if the early examples from Diabetes UK and The Dogs Trust are anything to go by, Vine provides a fantastic opportunity to produce creative and compelling content. We shouldn't underestimate the value that increased personalisation of engagement can offer, nor should we underestimate just how much the internet loves cute animals.

As well as the examples above, Vine provides clear opportunities for telling concise and compelling stories, and inviting your online community to share their stories with you in even more engaging ways; "Tell us why you care about X in six seconds" etc.

Have you created any Vines yet, or seen some really strong examples? If you have, please link to them in the comments or tweet me

Now, all they need to do is release an Android app.

Signed
Slightly disappointed Android user

Update: Well worth checking out a collection of non-profit Vines that Kirsty Marrins is Storifying here