Thursday, July 19, 2012

Instagram, the Next Generation - A New Mobile App


Dreamworks is backing a new iOS app that launches today – Ptch.  Ptch takes photo sharing to a new level, and allows users to create videos, 60-seconds or less, incorporating their own photos and video snippets.  The app provides a list of songs to choose from for the video’s soundtrack and, as Instagram does, provides ‘filter’  and wrap option for the visuals.  Not only can you create your own mini-movies from scratch, but to further augment the social experience, users can take their friends’ videos, edit and add to them, and share again.  Future features that Ptch is hoping to integrate include integrating users’ iTunes library to provide more soundtrack options, as well as licensing film clips that users can pay a minimal price to integrate into the video they create.

With the ever increasing popularity of photo apps like Instagram, it’s clear that people love visually sharing aspects of their lives, and their friends love seeing it.  While some might be skeptical about whether this Ptch will take off, I think it has a lot of potential given social media trends.  Users enjoy getting creative with their photos and they want simple tools to make it happen.  While there are many existing platforms for UGC video content, namely YouTube, Ptch is one of the first that makes the experience truly social, viral, and also includes easy video editing tools – and it’s free!  Ptch also provides interesting opportunities for digital marketing tactics, offering more potential for brands to engage users in campaigns that involve user made videos and sharing them with their friends.  I’m definitely planning to give it a try!

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