A new social media app called Byte, created by a co-founder of Vine, is now available on iOS and Android.
Byte aims to surpass Vine directly by enabling users to create and upload 6 second looped videos and browse content across a relatively minimal user interface.
When you want to get a sense of Byte before you dive into it, the Explore page (shown below) is a great starting point.
Byte comes equipped with basic social media features, such as a content feed, an Explore page, and user profiles. What it lacks is the ability to edit videos with filters and other effects you’d find in apps like TikTok and Snapchat.
Either you can shoot videos on your smartphone with the app or upload videos from your camera. This means that before being uploaded to Byte videos can be edited in many ways with third-parties apps.
Byte was only tested in beta for nine months, so its capabilities are at this point understandably limited. While the byte community forum announcements say that new creative features are being implemented.
Byte is in the early stages of developing a partner program that will get users paid for creating content. This may help lure creators away from more established apps like TikTok where there’s currently no way to earn money directly from videos.
“Very soon, we’ll introduce a pilot version of our partner program which we will use to pay creators. byte celebrates creativity and community, and compensating creators is one important way we can support both. stay tuned for more info.”
Another way Byte aims to differentiate itself from other platforms is by prioritizing communication with creators through its community forum.
For all the latest information on Byte, you can hear directly from the developers themselves in the Announcements forum.
