Soon you will no longer be able to do it for the Vine.
Twitter has announced that it will be shutting down Vine, the social media platform it acquired in 2012 that allowed users to create and share short, looped videos.
According to The Verge, Vine experienced a hefty number of layoffs today. Twitter has stated that it plans for the app to be discontinued “in the coming months.”
Vine reached its heyday in 2013. At the time, Vine’s focus on quick video clips as a medium was unique. The app encouraged and pushed its users’ creativity, as they explored ways to convey a message in just a few seconds. It was used for everything from displaying visual effects to showing a comedy skit. “Funniest Vine compilation” was a popular search on YouTube.
Now, however, Vine’s primary function has become an expected feature already available on many social media platforms. Instagram’s video feature is able to create the same kind of content, and it has an obvious advantage because it is already embedded within Instagram’s huge number of users. Apps like Boomarang have also made the short video medium even shorter, essentially allowing people to create gifs of themselves or anything else they can film. What Vine pioneered is now a norm.
Twitter is also facing struggles of its own as it attempts to find ways to encourage growth in users and revenue. Shutting down an arm of the company that they felt was not helping to create that growth is an obvious logical move.
Next: The Punisher series confirmed for Netflix in 2017
Twitter has assured that old Vines will still be available moving forward. “We value you, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way,” the company stated. “You’ll be able to access and download your Vines. We’ll be keeping the website online because we think it’s important to still be able to watch all the incredible Vines that have been made.”
The end of Vine means an end of a era. Buzzfeed said it best: