RIP Vine
Published on 04/12/16
24/1/13 - 30/10/16
Popular 7 second video sharing site gets discontinued by twitter.
On the 30th of October 2016, our lives were changed forever. Vine, a popular video sharing site where users upload seven second videos, was discontinued by Twitter. 2016 had been bad enough, what with the passing of Harambe and MattyB getting grounded, but this was the cherry on the cake.
Twitter purchased the app in 2012 and helped it to become home to more than 40 million users who have created 1.5 billion videos since 2013.
"Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we'll be discontinuing the mobile app," the tech company said in the announcement. "We value you, your Vines, and we are going to do this the right way."
Although PornHub made a gracious offer to buy the popular video sharing site, saying '6 seconds is long enough', their best efforts proved to be unfruitful. Vine was gone forever, leaving nothing but a website to store the previously uploaded Vines and a trail of broken hearts.
We mustn't forget the large impact that Vine has made on popular culture, providing some of the best and worst of the internet. As we bid farewell to one of the most iconic websites ever created, it’s worth reflecting just what Vine did to change the modern world.
Back in 2013, when Vine was introduced, it was all the rage, with a whopping 1.5 billion active loops per day. People were fascinated by the concept of creating and uploading something meaningful and well made in just 7 seconds; this saw the rise of many popular Viners such as chloelmao, etc.
However, as of December 2015, it was reported that there was a steady decrease in the usage of Vine, with the rise of apps such as Snapchat and Boomerang.
On top of this, several popular Viners were under fire for their use of blatant racism, sexism, homophobia or all of the above in their vines. An example of this is Magcon; a group of prepubescent boys with good hair, who get paid thousands of dollars to mess around on a stage and blow kisses at girls.
The bar was so low that all you needed to gain fame was good looks, and many others such as Nash Grier benefitted from this. However, in 2015, another Viner called Carter Reynolds had recordings leaked of his questionable behaviour with his then girlfriend. Once the recordings were leaked, he lost thousands of followers instantly. Another example is Curtis Lepore, the Viner who famously lost 4.5 million Twitter followers after he was accused of raping his girlfriend.
However, amidst the homophobia, racism and sexism, some positivity did shine through. Life changing content like this was created.
Now, when the kids of the future get in their mum's car, they won't understand. They won't do anything 'for the vine'. And most heartbreaking of all, I won’t be able to show them the vines of my childhood.
As a small silver lining, Vine announced it would keep all of its videos up for archival purposes, and assured people that its changes won't be immediate, so we’ll still be able to watch incredible looped video content like our favourite vines in no particular order:
20. 19. 18. 17. 16. 15. 14. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7 . 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
In the end, 7 seconds turned out to be long enough to make an impact to last for many years to come. We’ll miss you, Vine. </3
On the 30th of October 2016, our lives were changed forever. Vine, a popular video sharing site where users upload seven second videos, was discontinued by Twitter. 2016 had been bad enough, what with the passing of Harambe and MattyB getting grounded, but this was the cherry on the cake.
Twitter purchased the app in 2012 and helped it to become home to more than 40 million users who have created 1.5 billion videos since 2013.
"Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we'll be discontinuing the mobile app," the tech company said in the announcement. "We value you, your Vines, and we are going to do this the right way."
Although PornHub made a gracious offer to buy the popular video sharing site, saying '6 seconds is long enough', their best efforts proved to be unfruitful. Vine was gone forever, leaving nothing but a website to store the previously uploaded Vines and a trail of broken hearts.
We mustn't forget the large impact that Vine has made on popular culture, providing some of the best and worst of the internet. As we bid farewell to one of the most iconic websites ever created, it’s worth reflecting just what Vine did to change the modern world.
Back in 2013, when Vine was introduced, it was all the rage, with a whopping 1.5 billion active loops per day. People were fascinated by the concept of creating and uploading something meaningful and well made in just 7 seconds; this saw the rise of many popular Viners such as chloelmao, etc.
However, as of December 2015, it was reported that there was a steady decrease in the usage of Vine, with the rise of apps such as Snapchat and Boomerang.
On top of this, several popular Viners were under fire for their use of blatant racism, sexism, homophobia or all of the above in their vines. An example of this is Magcon; a group of prepubescent boys with good hair, who get paid thousands of dollars to mess around on a stage and blow kisses at girls.
The bar was so low that all you needed to gain fame was good looks, and many others such as Nash Grier benefitted from this. However, in 2015, another Viner called Carter Reynolds had recordings leaked of his questionable behaviour with his then girlfriend. Once the recordings were leaked, he lost thousands of followers instantly. Another example is Curtis Lepore, the Viner who famously lost 4.5 million Twitter followers after he was accused of raping his girlfriend.
However, amidst the homophobia, racism and sexism, some positivity did shine through. Life changing content like this was created.
Now, when the kids of the future get in their mum's car, they won't understand. They won't do anything 'for the vine'. And most heartbreaking of all, I won’t be able to show them the vines of my childhood.
As a small silver lining, Vine announced it would keep all of its videos up for archival purposes, and assured people that its changes won't be immediate, so we’ll still be able to watch incredible looped video content like our favourite vines in no particular order:
20. 19. 18. 17. 16. 15. 14. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7 . 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
In the end, 7 seconds turned out to be long enough to make an impact to last for many years to come. We’ll miss you, Vine. </3