A computing device comprising: a display; a network interface connected to exchange video messages with a communication network; one or more processors connected to the network interface and the display; computer-readable storage media embodying executable instructions which, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, perform operations comprising: receiving at least one video message comprising a video of a maximum permitted length and having multiple frames; storing the at least one video message in association with at least one video message conversation in storage means associated with the device, each video message conversation being represented by a representation; determining whether the video message conversation has unviewed content, and causing the representation to be displayed on the display to convey whether the video message conversation has unviewed content; and when the video message conversation has unviewed content, generating a thumbnail video image as a respective representation, where the thumbnail video image is based on at least one video message associated with the respective video message conversation and where the thumbnail video image is generated by selecting a subset of frames from the at least one video message associated with the respective video message conversation so as to create a shorter version of the at least one video message. a display; a network interface connected to exchange video messages with a communication network; one or more processors connected to the network interface and the display; computer-readable storage media embodying executable instructions which, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, perform operations comprising: receiving at least one video message comprising a video of a maximum permitted length and having multiple frames; storing the at least one video message in association with at least one video message conversation in storage means associated with the device, each video message conversation being represented by a representation; determining whether the video message conversation has unviewed content, and causing the representation to be displayed on the display to convey whether the video message conversation has unviewed content; and when the video message conversation has unviewed content, generating a thumbnail video image as a respective representation, where the thumbnail video image is based on at least one video message associated with the respective video message conversation and where the thumbnail video image is generated by selecting a subset of frames from the at least one video message associated with the respective video message conversation so as to create a shorter version of the at least one video message. receiving at least one video message comprising a video of a maximum permitted length and having multiple frames; storing the at least one video message in association with at least one video message conversation in storage means associated with the device, each video message conversation being represented by a representation; determining whether the video message conversation has unviewed content, and causing the representation to be displayed on the display to convey whether the video message conversation has unviewed content; and when the video message conversation has unviewed content, generating a thumbnail video image as a respective representation, where the thumbnail video image is based on at least one video message associated with the respective video message conversation and where the thumbnail video image is generated by selecting a subset of frames from the at least one video message associated with the respective video message conversation so as to create a shorter version of the at least one video message.