Vine is shutting down and killing off posting 6 second video loops on the app which get revined or mostly shared to other apps. The announcement was made via parent company, Twitter on the verified Vine handle. It read “We have some important news to share about Vine”. The short blog post that contained sad news about the app being taken down in a matter of months still left me (and many others, I believe) in the dark as to what happens to “Vine” as we know it after the app is taken off app stores.
“Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we’ll be discontinuing the mobile app.
Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today. We value you, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way. 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. You will be notified before we make any changes to the app or website”.
Very re-assuring to keep users in the loop as is the apps mainstay, but this begs a number of questions left unanswered; is Vine now going full web? Is it still going to be a social network of sorts? etc. Many of its users have taken to its its parent company, Twitter to lament the situation hopeful something can be done to reverse it.
There are many speculations as to why the app is being shut down, chief of which is it’s inability to make good enough return on investment at a time when Twitter is losing money every quarter and hasn’t been able to net one serious buyer. To add to that, Twitter announced it would be laying off staff; a spin off from the losses they recorded recently and already, some designers at Vine have taken to Twitter to affirm they have indeed been laid off. (Early) users of the app were also reported to have jumped ship when they saw they could not monetize time and creativity maximally and moved to Youtube and Instagram where brands pay for advertisement and profiles can also advertise.
Still, I am curious about what happens to Vine after now. In an age where things don’t just “die” like that. All we know for now is that previous vines will be kept on the website. However, there is a redirection to a beta testing called ‘beyondthevine” on videobeta.vine.co
