But academics are keenly interested in Vine too, saying the extreme constraints it imposes on video could produce an explosion in video sharing.

There’s big potential in Vine, say the two experts in online socialization we spoke to, but it’s unclear how, and how often, people will use the six-second video service.

“My guess, given the enthusiasm for Twitter so far, is that people are going to do really cool things,” says Scott Klemmer, who co-directs the Human-Computer Interaction Group at Stanford University. “One of the things we know about creativity is that constraints are essential for getting people to do creative stuff.