The little app called Vine has been out for a month now and has been sitting on my iPhone for several weeks without me even opening it. I thought it was about time to check it out, if only for my readers, I told myself.

For those of you playing catch-up, Vine is a brand new social media app where you make and post 6-second-long looping videos. It is owned by Twitter, which may have helped it catch some of the bazillion headlines it caught this month.

It is a simple app to describe and a simple app to use. You need an account to use Vine, even if you don't plan on making and posting videos and just want to watch them (which sounds a little creepy).

Once you get set up, find your friends, and explore a little, you can start making videos just by pressing the video button in the top corner of your home screen.

There are no filters and there is no editing afterward, so you have to get it right in 1 catch.

All you see is a box with no buttons. That's because you don't need any buttons. Just touch the screen to record and stop touching the screen to pause. When you've used up 6 seconds of record time, the “next” button pops up on the bottom of the screen.

Once you press next, it's time to share your micro-video with friends via Vine, Facebook, and Twitter (obviously). You can't save them or email them or text them at this time.

You can use hashtags (just like on Twitter and Instagram) to help others find your little video.

In case, like me, you get stuck for ideas on how to use this new social media format, check out this article of simple ideas and how-to's.

You can also just explore Vine itself and follow intersting people. Don't steal their ideas, but you can be inspired by them.

That's about it for now. I just started using Vine, so I only have 1 video up as cassiopia26 (my usual screen name for things like Vine and Instagram).

How about you? Have you found any interesting ways to use Vine?

That's it for me today. Until later, …

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