Vine: “Who is she” and how did she change digital history?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiP6h9cNyHg
Well… not a she, but an app! Vine, a six-video creating/sharing platform was created in June 2012 by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, Colin Kroll, but was quickly acquired by Twitter for a reported $30 million dollars.
Under Twitter, Vine launched to the iOS app store in January 2013 and later in June for Android users. On April 9, 2013, just shortly after its initial launch, it made history becoming the most downloaded app in the iOS app store. It’s success with quick looping videos allowed celebrities to share more with their fans and became a great space for up-and-coming influencers. But with quick moving advancements from its competitors, Vine could no longer keep up. In December of 2016, Twitter announced that they would soon be shutting down the app. This caused an uproar from the Vine community and its viewers, and theres a reason for that!
Vine impacted the way we create and consume media on our mobile devices. We want quick, easy, and sharable!
The app allowed anyone to create content from their phones. It was easily accessible, but also posed a challenge to fit their content into six-second videos. This brought forth the shortened length of our attention span when watching videos on our mobile devices. If you think about the length of video sharing on other social sites, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat you’ll notice nothing is longer than a few minutes. Vine impacted the way in which we enjoy viewing media.
Vine was also successful at creating stars overnight. Whether it was a comedic video, musician sharing their talents, or the latest dance trend. Remember the “whip and nae nae?” With Vine, the possibilities of a successful digital career were in reach.
Stars like award-winning recording artist Shawn Mendes and Us The Duo both began sharing their music on Vine. Us The Duo were the first Vine “stars” to get signed to a major record label.
With the death of Vine, many digital creators were looking for a new ways or platforms to be able to create. Many of these “Viners” careers expanded into a large social media following or successful YouTube Careers. Soon after, a new app, Tik Tok, made it possible to create and share one-minute and under content. With Vine’s innovative contribution to mobile media, they set up the building blocks for Tik Tok’s success. Tik Tok has now taken the place of the most downloaded app in the iOS app store.
Without the help of Vine making way into the digital social media scene in 2012, I believe that our digital future would not look the same. Vine was an escape from the world and its chaos. It allowed careers to take off, made some of the most impressionable content that is still quoted til this day, and paved the way for a future generation of content creation.
References:
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/rise-fall-vine-short-loops-533299
https://www.businesschief.com/technology/5614/The-rise-and-fall-of-Vine:-A-brief-timeline
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/8-reasons-why-vine-mattered-129757/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiP6h9cNyHg
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/stars-who-started-on-vine
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