I think you will be impressed by this, but if you are is a Microsoft fan then you won’t be impressed by this. For the rest of us this is rather surprising as Microsoft has launched a new service called Vine. This service was especially designed for emergency situations and it allows you, your friends and family to stay in touch even when most of the communications are down. In emergency situations, phone lines might be broken, but Microsoft is now planning to take this service offline too.

If you are confused, then allow me to explain a little better – the Microsoft Vine service keeps you and whoever you want connected during an emergency situation. Vine is like a perfect combination between Twitter and Facebook as it’s not as simple as the former and not as complicated as the latter. Microsoft Vine allows you to send alerts via e-mail, SMS, or a desktop client which is Windows OS but it should soon be available for others. Even if there is no crisis, you can still use Vine to communicate with your friends and family.

How it works? Vine can gather news from 20,000 local and nationwide sources and from the official public safety announcements and it puts all of them on a map. You can always choose what to display on your local map. This social networking application comes with Facebook therefore you can also see the status updates of your friends from there, and you can also see their location if they share it and if you are in the same area then you can meet each other. Microsoft says that Twitter will be added soon, but for the moment Vine was tested only in Seattle and it’s still in early beta even if the project was launched about two years ago.

If an emergency situation strikes, then you can quickly post alerts so that your family and friends see it. Aforementioned, I said that you can use Vine via SMS, e-mail or desktop clients, and that Microsoft is trying to make it work offline. The company intends to do that by developing new platforms for Mac and Silverlight, but this could take years.

Another advantage of Vine is that it allows you to send other stuff rather than alerts if crisis – Microsoft’s service gives you the possibility to post longer reports like: “Check in safe and well”, “Report upcoming plans”, “Report a situation”, and “General information”. These four are like a title, then you have two boxes where you can write your message, and to request what you want to hear from your friends and family. Also you can add the best way to reach your and your current location.

I definitely think that Microsoft Vine will be a success. Like I said, it’s simpler than Facebook and more complex than Twitter. It’s very structured, easy to use, and it’s exactly what you need. It makes me think “why didn’t I come up with this?” as I doesn’t waste my time. It shows you everything you want to see. I can’t wait to try it, and I will let you know how it works and if it will be a pleasant experience.

via TechCrunch