Google has announced it’s launching an “experimental social video sharing app” called Tangi for short, 60-second tutorials.
The app is a product from Google’s Area 120, an incubator for more experimental products. It is now available in the App Store and at tangi.co. In a blog post about the app, the service’s team lead Coco Mao wrote that the service is a place to find and share DIY video content for things like recipe hacks, crafts, makeup and style tips, and various other topics. It’s kind of like TikTok for people who love Pinterest, or YouTube’s DIY community sans all the commentary. Below, Gizmodo staffers Victoria Song and Catie Keck discuss.
Catie: Victoria as you know I live—I live—for DIY projects, and I typically turn to YouTube to find tutorials for things like furniture builds and design hacks. But many of those videos are typically heavy on commentary, which I hate. This app seems like extremely my shit!
Victoria: Catie. I am an instructional dumb dumb. I need detailed instructions and multiple angles to help me figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do. I tried building a dresser from IKEA once and I did the whole thing backward. It’s like how I can’t make a recipe based on those 30-second Tasty videos on BuzzFeed.
Catie: I was not impressed with the avocado hack the service is plugging. Apparently the avocado community on Tangi is strong though.
Victoria: What is an avocado hack? Like, how to hack open an avocado?
Catie: You mash the avocado with a fork. That’s it. That’s the whole hack.
Victoria: See I feel like 60 seconds is way too short! What can I actually learn in 60-seconds? How to lick a stamp? I can’t even draw my eyeliner on in 60-seconds unless I want my wing to look like a child drew it. You are right however, that YouTubers talk too much. There’s like a 15-minute update on their life, their children’s lives, and what their dog ate for lunch before we get to the part I came for.
Catie: That’s what I’m saying! All of the best tutorials on YouTube are no longer than a couple of minutes, but it’s not beneficial to the creators to create short videos because of monetisation. Who has the time for a 20-minute video about wood staining! Not me.
Some of the DIY videos seem a little Pinterest-y to me—and not in a good way—but I did find this DIY tutorial for building industrial shelving with pipes that is pretty similar to a plan I just put in my own house. I’m confident you could pull this off if you tried.
Victoria: Hahahahahaaha. Your faith in me is unwarranted. I could see this platform working better if you had like, a 5-6 minute video. But not all YouTube tutorial videos are terrible; obviously the cooking videos are way better because…you have to cook the thing in somewhat real-time.
Also, maybe this would be better if they had links to a blog post with instructions. Because I have no sense of why they’re doing some things in this shelf-building video! I’m a DIY idiot! a
Catie: DIY is in your heart Victoria. You just have to believe in yourself. Pipe shelves probably wasn’t the best example for beginners, but this teeny pie recipe has step-by-step instructions, which seems helpful.
Victoria: OK this mini pie tutorial is not the worst. I could maybe do this. Other “hacks” just seem so….stupid. See: this. It’s LITERALLY PUTTING SALSA INTO A BOWL. ….SDF)@RJSIDFK!$UR)IPSDKM
Or like this one. Cool but I have no idea what temp to bake anything. I think maybe my question is: Are any of these really DIY? Like this little wallet doodle. It feels like it’s telling me “Be able to draw.”
Catie: My biggest complaint with Tangi so far is that I’m forced to scroll through a bunch of garbage that’s neither helpful nor informative. Like a lot of these videos seem like guides to creating clutter. I did, however, find an extremely good video on what happens when you SMOKE AN EGG. The commentary is just. It’s great.
Victoria: Whaaaaaaaaaaat. This is like that egg that got bigger than before.
Catie: My man Matthew, thank you!
Victoria: Tangi feels like Vine met Pinterest and had a baby. That’s also cousins with Instagram TV or something.
Catie: Exactly. I don’t think this is necessarily social media for everyone, but I do think it’s a nice place to be entertained. It’s like DIY YouTube lite.
Victoria: Hmmm. I dunnnnnnnooooooooo.
Catie: Victoria maybe you’ll learn something. Maybe there’s a future in DIY for you yet.
Victoria: Maybe I’ll find a recipe on Tangi and make it for you. And then you can uh, revaluate your faith in me.