YouTube is where most videos are posted and shared. It’s been the king of the hill for years. But lately, competition has sprung up. First came Vine, the social app designed specifically for sharing short videos with your peers. Not long after Vine took off, Instagram announced it would expand its immensely popular photo-sharing app to include videos. And of course, there’s also Snapchat, which lets you target exactly who can see your video creations, but with a twist: once the videos are viewed by its recipients, they’re gone forever.
Now, MixBit is throwing its hat into the ring. MixBit is the brainchild of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the two responsible for bringing YouTube to the world. The new app, which has been the subject of speculation over the last few months, has similarities to the other video-sharing services available, but it has some unique characteristics that set it apart as well. We decided to give it a try and see just how it stacks up against the competition. Will this be the next best video-sharing app? Or will it just fall by the wayside?
Creating a video with MixBit is as easy as any of the other apps. The app immediately warns you that top quality recording is achieved by recording with your device held in landscape position. Regardless of quality, it’s easier to see what you’re capturing when holding it this way.
There are three basic functions to help you make the best possible video, with self-explanatory icons. In low-light settings, you can tap the brightness icon to the left and your flash will stay illuminated. Next to it is a grid to help you keep your subjects just where you want them to be in the frame. And then there’s the (inevitable) position swap, so you can change focus to yourself and record a lovely ol’ selfie video.
Recording a video is when you’ll notice the biggest change over the other similar apps. Your filming will be cut off after 16 consecutive seconds, but you can start recording again, and include the subsequent clips in the same video.
The next feature that really sets MixBit apart from the social video crowds is the ability to edit videos, and in more ways than one. To boot, both are insanely easy. As we explained above, you can record in 16 second clips or less, with a single video being a combination of these clips. First, you can reorder your clips with a single drag and drop. It’s not really explained within the app, so you have to know to do it, but it’s not rocket science so we don’t foresee this being hard for people to realize. (It took us all of 10 seconds.)
Hold down the record button just a little too long? Not to worry. Select the clip that you need to chop down, then tap the icon synonymous with “crop” in Photoshop, and you can select which portion of the video you actually want. Easy peasy. The last edit option you have is to duplicate any clip. We can’t imagine that this will come in handy all too often, but who knows?
All done editing your masterpiece? The next step is sharing it with the world … or with just a handful of people … or maybe saving it and not letting anyone see it, ever. All three are options. You can either save the video as a draft, so you can go back to it later, make some tweaks, and share it at a future time. You can share it with a limited crowd; just the people you are okay with having their eyes on your creation. Or, for the ultimate exhibitionist, you can make the video fully public. And of course, for all three, you have the option of embedding a location, along with the standard hashtag-centric title and description. Because what sorta social app would it be without those options?
The biggest difference with MixBit is that, not only do you put your videos out there for the world to see, but you put them out there for the world to use. Anyone with a MixBit account is welcome to use any part of any public video in their own creation. So that video you spent minutes and minutes on? It very well may end up becoming a part of someone else’s masterpiece. (So maybe cool it with all those boozy videos.)
We don’t know if MixBit will end up being the next best video sharing app. But at first glance, it’s a pretty stand-up app and, though we’ve already got plenty of video apps to keep us busy, we don’t mind adding this one to the bundle. Give it a try and let us know what you think. The app is free and currently available for iPhones and iPod Touches, with an Android release expected in the coming weeks. Don’t own either? Just head to the official site and try out the Web version.
Spending a childhood engrossed in such technologically inspiring television shows like Voltron, Small Wonder, and Power Rangers, it's really no surprise that all things digital continue to inspire and amaze Joshua. After working as an editor for Travel + Leisure for 7 years, he left to take on the freelance world. And while doesn't look forward to a complete Cylon takeover, he does eagerly await the day he can become half cyborg.
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