The Official
Moosylvania Blog

Hello, and welcome to the Social Media Marketing Rodeo! If this is your first time here, I’ll take a moment to explain that Vine is an app and social network owned by Twitter that makes it dead simple to shoot and share six-second videos. It was being pitched as “Instagram For Video” and while that is true, it ended up selling the service short and alienating many people who would otherwise enjoy it — your author included.

But while the mechanics are similar, the limitations of the app make for a unique experience. Behold:

1. By forcing users to shoot in-app, they keep out the pre-made, semi-pro shots that clog up Instagram. It also prevents people from uploading someone else’s content, at least without filming it off a screen.
2. By forcing users to shoot linearly with no editing controls, they limit the scope of artistic aspiration. Removing the option to edit and fiddle endlessly places emphasis on candid moments, recalling the golden-age of Super 8 home movies.
3. By limiting the output to six seconds and looping them endlessly, the best Vines become hypnotic meditations on their subject.

In truth, the breathless enthusiasm of these points sounds tiring even to me, but I was a complete Vine skeptic until I actually used the app. I look forward to seeing new creative uses for Vine and will be watching closely to see how Vine gets integrated into social and ad campaigns.

Leave a comment below linking to your best Vines, and follow Moosylvania as we figure this out together.

Each year on November 30th, web designers and developers across the globe come together to celebrate Blue Beanie Day, a time to honor the past and embrace the future of our profession through the lens of Web Standards. Here at Moosylvania, all of our interactive projects are built upon the foundation of Web Standards. What does this mean? It means that we use web standards to create user-friendly websites.

Used to be, this was a thing, that you could get a job just by mentioning CSS or Section 508. But now, pretty much every modern interactive practice is rooted in the same fundamentals. Even the browser makers are on board. Our work here is done. Yay!

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As the wise man once said, if you want happy and productive developers, give them sharp tools and interesting problems. Here at Moosylvania, the sharpest tool in our arsenal is SilverStripe, an open source content management system we use for most website and application development. Here’s the rundown on why. (more…)

This is post is part of our summer blog series, “So You Want a Job in Advertising?” Check back for more intern insights or sign up for our RSS feed to be the first to know.

Welcome to the wonderful world of mobile app development. As you embark upon this journey, you will find that your professional growth as a developer is more akin to honing the skills of a craftsperson than applying the lessons of an MBA. And whether you are plying your trade in the service of an agency, a startup or as an independent, here are a few tips to help you along your way.

1. Solve problems
At its most basic level, all software development (web, mobile, enterprise or otherwise) is the science of identifying problems, breaking them into their component parts and iterating against those smaller chunks until a solution is found. You might see pasty geeks in the movies tapping away at their keyboards in the dark after a brilliant flash of insight, but in the real world, a huge chunk of the work is done before you even sit down with your laptop. Instagram didn’t invent the cameraphone, social photo sharing, or even vintage photo filters. The problem they solved was bundling it all together in a simple and fun experience.
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