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Video App SocialCam Runs Risk of Oversharing

Video apps are having a run of popularity on Facebook — both Viddy and SocialCam have gained millions of users in the past week. While they share many similarities, there's one huge difference: time.   Both are iPhone apps designed for filming on the spot, quickly adding a filter for a stylized look along with a fitting soundtrack, allowing users to instantly share to Facebook and other social sites. Viddy offers filters similar to the retro-style choices available on the wildly popular photo app 
/ Source: TechNewsDaily

Video apps are having a run of popularity on Facebook — both Viddy and SocialCam have gained millions of users in the past week. While they share many similarities, there's one huge difference: time.   Both are iPhone apps designed for filming on the spot, quickly adding a filter for a stylized look along with a fitting soundtrack, allowing users to instantly share to Facebook and other social sites. Viddy offers filters similar to the retro-style choices available on the wildly popular photo app  Instagram , such as vintage and solarize filters. It has also made deals with big-time artists such as Snoop Dogg to use snippets of their songs for soundtracks.   In contrast, SocialCam offers a choice of TV-intro formats such as "Ticker" featuring the video's title and description running along the bottom a la CNN, and "Journal," which opens with a desktop vignette of a journal and an iPhone side-by-side and then zooms in to show your video playing on the iPhone. Music is limited to ho-hum public domain tracks.   Both have their own user communities within their apps. Each offers one-click sharing to  Facebook , Twitter, YouTube and  Tumblr.   But the time limit is by far the biggest difference. In the realm of amateur videos — people falling, pets playing — 15 seconds is all it takes to get a laugh out of your audience. Two or more minutes of the same subjects are boring at best and sometimes are downright painful.   Bottom line: SocialCam has the potential to let people create videos with a professional kick, but demands a lot more self-control from its users. For most amateur videos, Viddy's 15-second limit is just about right.