At the start of 2020 (yes, we’re only 3 months in), Byte launched. There was a time where 6-second videos were super popular – made possible by Vine. KingBach, Rudy Mancuso, Lele Pons, Logan Paul, were some of the biggest creators on the platform. Now that it’s gone, and replaced by this new Byte, how are brands taking to this new platform?

Vine’s looping videos were a novelty back when they launched, but how would Byte survive in the age of Tik Tok, Instagram Stories and Snapchat? Firstly, it’s back to a different way of telling stories. 6-second stories versus multiple 15-seconds for IG Stories (longer for IGTV),  10-second stories for Snaps, and 15-60 seconds for Tik Tok. It’s still pretty basic in terms of app features for Byte videos too – no filters, just a caption. Hashtags work fine but not that intuitive to use for the discovery of new content. There is also a lack of verified accounts but probably something we’ll see down the pipeline. Byte is very community-driven and currently is updated pretty often with new features and bug fixes. Byte Beats is their latest attempt to replicate some of the features of Tik Tok, albeit somewhat different. There’s also a very active thread discussion on engagement within the app. Socialmediatoday lists Byte as being downloaded 1.3 million times within the first week of launching, surpassing Vine’s performance in the same time period after launch.

[Read more…]