The Short Video Format: Conceptualizing a Ubiquitous Artifact of Visual Platforms

Abstract

Short videos first emerged as a core feature of visual-centric platforms and have rapidly expanded across nearly all online spaces, challenging traditional audiovisual norms and reshaping how content is created, consumed, and engaged with. This paper argues that a cross-platform conceptualization is necessary to define how short videos and their features generate meaning, distinguish them from other audiovisual artifacts, facilitate comparison across studies, and support cumulative research. The infrastructure of short videos will continue evolving, shaped by platform objectives and user demands. The conceptual framework introduced in this study allows for tracking and comparing these changes across diverse environments, highlighting how short videos shape platform aesthetics and user practices through mobile-based technological standards, affordances, and the interplay of multiple communication modes. By doing so, this framework provides a solid theoretical foundation for developing tailored methodologies capable of grasping the complex components of this format.