Microsoft's debuts 'social networking' site Vine
Local website for connecting local people
Microsoft has released the beta of its latest social-networking website Vine.
Currently only available in the US, Vine apparently "connects you to the people and places you care about most, when it matters."
Straight off the Vine
Essentially Vine has been created to bond friends and family to their local area, so that if an emergency happens, alerts can be sent out to the relevant people to let them know the situation.
Microsoft is being a tad vague about the new service, but has handily posted some videos showing how Vine can help you.
One is about a guy stuck in a snow drift, the other is a woman whose grandmother is ill. Both people use the wonders of Vine, shown in a rather twee 'we've watched Juno far too many times way' to let friends and family know just what is going on.
A bit like when, in the olden days, you would pick up a phone and speak to people.
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On the website, it says you can: "Organise people into groups – the sports team you coach, people who live nearby, family far away, special friends, and emergency contacts.
"Each person defines how they want to receive alerts – through email, a text message, or on their computer. Reach them quickly using alerts."
As the service is currently unavailable in the UK, we haven't tested Vine out. But we are sure right now there are some people in the US downloading it to keep track of which neighbours have gone to Mexico and contracted a bout of 'pig sniffles'.
Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.