Photovine: Plant a photo, watch it grow

The website for Google’s new mysterious photo-sharing service, Photovine, is now live. Although no product or mobile app is available yet to use, the landing page and privacy policy and support pages do give some insights into what we can expect from the service when it launches.

The website’s landing page features an iPhone (yes, not an Android) with what appears to be a photo-sharing app. A short written introduction to the site reads, “Photovine is a fun way to learn more about your friends, meet new people, and share your world like never before”.

The Photovine service appears to be about users collectively grouping photos within shared themes or “Vines”. The site’s support page reads, “A vine is like a constantly growing family of photos connected through a common caption created by you, your friends, and people all over the world”.

All photos uploaded are completely public and the service suggests that “as a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t want your family to see it, you probably shouldn’t post it”.

The app appears to be inherently social as its screenshot reads “81 photos…57 people”, further suggesting photo sharing with other users. The existence of an in-app shutter button also suggests instant photo upload.

Reading the privacy page it’s clear that Photovine will integrate with other social networking sites, most likely Twitter and Facebook. The Photovine policy reads, “Social networking services may collect information about you, including about your use of our services, in ways that are not under our control”.

At this stage there is no suggestion of integration with Google’s latest social foray, Google+, as the entire Photovine service appears to exist as an independent product.