What if you combined the viral nature of Vine with the mini-story capability of Snapchat? That’s what Facebook is trying to do with Riff, a new app that’s available for download today.
Created by Facebook’s Creative Labs (the same group behind Paper, Groups, Rooms, etc.), the Riff app lets you create a 20-second video, post it, and have your friends add to it with short videos of their own. The idea is the same snowball effect that made the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge such a viral phenomenon; you keep a video meme going by letting others pile on.
You obviously have to log into Facebook to get started, and each video needs some kind of tag explaining its theme or message. All videos with the same tag (like “#birthday”) are then categorized and made searchable.
With Snapchat, Vine, Periscope, Meerkat and plenty of other apps in the video sharing game, Riff faces tough competition. Facebook’s last photo/video sharing app was Slingshot, and it’s done miserably so far. Riff’s success will completely depend on its central concept: people actually using it to add onto each other’s videos. If that idea doesn’t take off, the app will join Slingshot in the depths of the App Store charts.
You can download the Riff app now and try it yourself.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
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