Vine. It's an app that has become a prominent face in the social media world, and it has generated both positive and very negative attention. Users of Vine post six-second videos ranging from comedy to music to dancing, that can be shared across almost all social media platforms. For Jonas Robinett, also known for his Vine username "Jonasty Drawz," Vine has been an app that has completely changed his life in profound ways. As most people know, Vine is infiltrated with the "pop page" Viners who have millions of followers each. These popular Vines can be funny, but also problematic because the most popular posts are often racist or poke fun at certain groups. To combat this negativity on Vine, users like Robinett put a unique hashtag in their Vine description that others can use, and all the vines with the hashtag will be grouped together.
Robinett first joined vine because he was inspired by fellow artist RB Silva,
who posted videos of his art. Being an artist himself, Robinett joined to follow this trend with his amazing artwork, and soon gained not only a ton of followers, but great friends.
Robinett originally created the hashtag "#SexyHipTuesdays" with the song "Torn"
by LeToya because it is a song that he couldn't help but dance to after he worked out at the gym and had the idea to share it with his followers. He was going to delete the Vine in 10 minutes, but it soon gained a lot of popularity and other people joined in on this fun and sexy tag. With Vine's regulations, the tag had to be shortened to "#SHTuesdays" because the word sexy was not allowed.While it took a couple weeks for the tag to gain a lot of popularity, once it did, the notifications on Robinett's account started flooding in. While most popular Viners almost always only re-Vine (analogous to a retweet) their friends, Robinett chose to re-Vine every single one of the vines that used his tag in an effort to popularize it. What makes this special is that users of Vine who don't typically post vines of their own will have a chance to be seen by a larger group of people on Robinett's page (28,596 to be exact). Other popular Viners, like Matt Post, have joined this hashtag movement and in turn helped this hashtag takeover Vine every Tuesday. This tag has even made it into a New York Times
article this year!For Robinett, every Tuesday is now filled with hundreds of people dancing and having fun. Growing up, we all learned that talking to strangers online is a huge risk for your safety, because there is always a chance that the person you're talking to isn't really who they say they are. With Vine, it is easier for users to make real friends through the Internet, because the visual medium is much more personal than simply text. Vine has changed Robinett's views on meeting people online because of this reason. He was able to talk to real people with similar interests and humor, and in turn, made a whole new group of friends who have shown him real support. He was also able to create a day of the week in the world of Vine that allows users to let loose and have fun without the worry of being swept under the crowded social media rug or judged by those who are against using Vine purely for the fun of it.
While Vine has over 40 million
users, there are still those who are scared to post their own videos or those who don't even want to try. Robinett's advice to those people is to check out the "Editor's Picks" and not the "Popular" page because the editors choose Viners and Vines that can actually make an impact and are not just using the platform to make money or make fun of people. Vine is a community filled with amazingly talented people and you can become a part of that community by joining and posting a #SHTuesdays Vine yourself! To check out some of Robinett's awesome posts and artwork, follow him on Vine and on Instagram with the username Jonasty Drawz!
