Myspace, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram are just a few of the social media websites that make up a multi-billion dollar industry that is less than a decade old. Now another social media program has arrived on the scene, and its fresh take on the social network medium has users excited. This new social media platform takes the form of an app for iPhones.

This new app is called Vine, and it’s unique because it allows users to make six and a half second videos that loop that they can share with friends. The process of making the video is clean and intuitive: a tap to the touch screen starts the camera and another tap stops it. This allows users to edit videos as they make them. The end result can vary widely depending on what the user wants out of the experience.

A Vine video could be anything from an artful tiny film, a clip of a sporting event or a cute cat video.  These videos are then posted to the user’s feed and, like Twitter, Vine users can follow each other and see one another’s videos. The similarity to the Twitter layout is no accident; in fall 2012 Twitter acquired the three-man start-up that Vine began as and released the Vine app on Jan. 24.

The Vine app, although undoubtedly a success, has also been surrounded by some controversy. There were instances of pornograpy posted on Vine and although the “porn” hashtag has been disabled and the app has changed its age warning to 17+ rating. The app is not nearly as vigilant about taking down pornography as a site like Youtube, and the age warning is just that, a warning.

One of the most exciting and entertaining aspects of Vine is how the app is being utilized by comedians. Already popular on Twitter, comedians like Reggie Watts and John Hodgman are embracing Vine as a new way to get their content to the public.