The Rise and Fall of Vine
Vine is one of the revolutionary apps in the social media world. Vine took the Internet by storm and inspired those to create a memorable video with a limited time of only six seconds. Vine was introduced when I was in high school and on my way to college, which was the same time I purchased an iPhone and finally joined my friends in the 21st century. To me, Vine was entertaining and I could consume more entertainment because each video was limited to six seconds. I still remember many videos and references to vines and still use them to joke around with my friends. Sometimes I will turn to YouTube to watch compilation videos of vines to bring back the nostalgia of when I first began watching vines.
Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and Colin Kroll created vine and was launched January 24th 2013. Vine was to originally be a standalone application but was purchased by Twitter in 2012 for $30 million. Vine began as a downloadable application for IOS devices then was brought to Android devices about six months later in June 2013. “It has become the most popular and most utilized video-sharing application in the online marketplace in just a span of two months. This happened even with the lowest adoption rate for the app itself,” (Smith, 2020, December 3).
Vine was revolutionary because users could use in-app resources to edit and create effects all with the tap of your fingers. As time went on, more features and tools were added like curated channels and videos for users and the ability to make certain videos private for your won viewing. Not only was vine revolutionary for its in-app abilities, but it also paved the way for comedians and the influencers that we know today. “It turned everyday people into stars on other platforms and beyond. Its musical whims warped the music industry. It cultivated memes that might have been dismissed as inside jokes if not for their tendency to flourish outside the app,” (Herrman, 2020 February 22).
For an application that was seemingly ahead of its time by creatively challenging its users to time-restricted videos, Vine was ultimately retired. Although Twitter purchased Vine, Vine’s small New York-based team struggled to grow its user base and generate monetary value. Vine was, for most of the millennial generation, an app that produced memes and cultural moments that only its users/watchers would understand. Other applications began to add other features like stories, longer videos, and filters; Vine simply could not keep up with the times.
Vine turned ordinary people into well-known content creators with large fan-bases. Once Vine was shutdown, content creators moved to other social media applications, which ultimately paved the way for Instagram Influencers. “With less space and materials, Vine created a world of MacGyver-esque viral stars that have rose in prominence because of how well they use their limited resources,” (Spanos, 2016 October 27). Content creators were given the opportunity of fame and fortune because of Vine and their loyal fan-base that transcended social applications.
The creation of TikTok was heavily influenced by Vine; TikTok supports longer videos, a larger audience base, and constantly changing creative tools. In a sense, TikTok has become the app that Vine could never be. Creators and Influences have become more common and TikTok has given more creative flow, unlike the pressure put on by its predecessor. TikTok for younger generations has become what Vine was for other generations — a defining moment in social media history.
Resources
Herrman, J. (2020, February 22). Vine Changed the Internet Forever. How Much Does the Internet Miss It? Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/style/byte-vine-short-video-apps.html
Newton, C. (2016, October 28). Why Vine died. Retrieved January 14, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-twitter-shutdown
Smith, C. (2020, December 03). Brief Introduction to Vine History. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://videoconverter.wondershare.com/convert-video/vine-history.html
Spanos, B. (2018, June 25). 8 Reasons Why Vine Mattered. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/8-reasons-why-vine-mattered-129757/
