Our agency is currently mourning the loss of a beloved friend – Vine, the six-second social media video app. Alas, its parent company, Twitter, announced that they have decided to discontinue the mobile app, as a last ditch effort to minimize costs and hope to boast a profit in 2017.
Social media experts across the interwebs have been all abuzz, speculating as to why Twitter would have let the almost cult-like Vine following down. After all, many aspiring comedians and musicians have made Vine their livelihood. According to the Independent, Vine had been gradually integrating their interface with Twitter over the years. It could very well be that the company thinks that the value Vine provides can now be easily done by the main Twitter service.
The announcement was made on Vine’s Twitter account on Thursday, October 27th, and the messages from famous Viners and fans came rolling in with a mix of nostalgia and devastation. It remains to be seen if other social video platforms will effectively provide the same value that Vine has in the past. The six-second limit challenged creators to fit in quick punchlines and create mind-bending loops, unlike Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.
The clearest sign that change was imminent came when Vine dropped its six-second limit, allowing viewers to click to view beyond the six second limit. But when that wasn’t enough to boost the parent company’s profit, Twitter made the decision to phase out the app.
If you’re an avid Vine fan, don’t freak out. Nothing is happening to the app or website as of today. Viners will have plenty of time to download their content and preserve the memories before any major changes have been made. Since the announcement, #RIPVine has been steadily growing in popularity as fans share their favorite Vines to Twitter before it’s too late. The company will keep the website open so that we can view past videos (#memories), but no new content will be able to be created or uploaded.
#RIPVine
