One minute Oprah is the Internet’s new Tweetheart, the next minute hard-core twitterers are grumbling.  It’s like when hordes of people invade your favorite secluded beach spot.  Usually that means it’s time to find a new favorite secluded beach spot.  Enter Microsoft, and a new product called Vine.  It’s in early beta testing in Seattle, but it looks like they’ve zeroed in on core needs with the easy messaging of Twitter, the contacts and connections of Facebook, and the local news and Latitude of Google.  If it works better than Internet Explorer (a low bar),  it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.   Could this be the next big thing?

Vine is designed to keep family and friends in touch when other communication methods are either broken or not particularly efficient. Times of crisis usually involve a breakdown in mobile phone or other key communication infrastructures, and Vine is designed to be as hardy as possible to keep people connected. Vine can be accessed via a desktop client (Windows only for now), text message or email.

So what is it? Vine is a tool keep people connected during a crisis, but it’s also used to for more mundane, everyday tasks. My guess is it will hit a sweet spot with the masses. My parents, for example, are going to love this.

via TechCrunch:  Microsoft Vine To Connect Family, Friends When Crisis Hits