Vine

About

Vine^[1] was a mobile-based short-form video hosting service that allows its users to create, upload and share looping video clips spanning up to six seconds in duration.^[2]

History

Acquisition

Originally developed by Dom Hofmann and Rus Yusupov in June 2012, the New York City-based startup was acquired by Twitter in October 2012 and introduced to the public in January 2013.

Release

Within the first week of its launch, pornographic video clips reportedly began appearing on the service, prompting Gawker ^[4] to label the app "America’s Hottest New Porn Search Engine" in an article published on January 27th. On the following day, a sexually explicit video clip titled "DildoPlay" was accidentally featured as an "Editor's Pick" on every Vine user's newsfeed page, further drawing criticisms and mockeries from the tech news blogosphere^[5][6]. Later that same day, a Twitter spokesperson issued an apology, explaining that:

"a human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor's Picks, and upon realizing this mistake we removed the video immediately."

While uploading pornography is not prohibited by Twitter's guidelines, several tags containing sexually explicit terms were blocked as a result and the minimum age limit for the iPhone app was raised from 12 to 17 to comply with Apple's iTunes terms of service.

Closure

On October 27th, 2016, Twitter announced via a post on Medium^[8] that they would be shutting down Vine. In the statement, Twitter and Vine assured content creators that the shutdown would come in the coming month so that creators would be able to access and download their Vines.

"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… We’ll be working closely with creators to make sure your questions are answered and will work hard to do this the right way. We’ll be sharing more details on this blog and our Twitter account."

BBC News^[9] speculated that due to Twitter's financial woes and competition from Instagram and Snapchat, Twitter had no justification for keeping Vine alive. Twitter immediately responded with grief and posts of their favorite Vines.

On January 17th, 2017, Vine officially discontinued its service and relaunched the mobile app under the new name "Vine Camera," which allows its users to create 6.5 second looping videos and share them on Twitter or save as media files on the device.^[10]

V2

On November 30th, 2017, Vine co-creator Dom Hofmann tweeted,^[11] "i'm going to work on a follow-up to vine. i've been feeling it myself for some time and have seen a lot of tweets, dms, etc." The post (shown below) received more than 2,000 retweets and 8,000 likes in less than 24 hours. He followed the posts (shown below) with two more tweets, saying "i'm funding it myself as an outside project, so it doesn't interfere with the (quite exciting) work we're doing at the company, which is my first priority […] nothing else to share yet, but more as it develops."

People on Twitter responded positively to Hofmann's tweet with many saying that they would send him money and help him fund the project (examples below).

Several media outlets covered the response to the announcement, including Jezebel,^[12] The Independent,^[15] Digital Trends,^[16] Mashable,^[17] The Next Web,^[18] The Daily Dot,^[13] The Verge^[14] and more.

On January 22nd, 2017, Hofmann tweeted,^[19] "we've been trying to make v2 happen for over half a year. no one was supportive. 54 days ago i tweeted about it, without a plan, to force the issue. thank you for believing in us. we'll do our best to make it beautiful. (my last direct tweet about v2. otherwise RTs from @v2app)." The post (shown below) received more tahn 1,100 retweets and 10,600 likes in two days.

That day, the website v2.co^[20] launched. The site, as of January 2018, featured message boards and included the disclaimer "There is NO official Instagram account. There is NOofficial merchandise. There is NO official chat. There are NO other official sites, Twitter accounts, beta offers, or apps." Additionally, the Twitter account @v2app launched. Their first tweet^[21] said, "just setting up my twitter." The post (shown below) received more than 4,100 retweets and 21,000 likes.

According to an interview with TechCrunch,^[22] the app will be called "v2" and not "Vine 2" because Twitter still owns Vine. However, while there is still no release date, Hofmann said it will "definitely" launch in 2018.

Byte

On September 26, 2019, beta testing for the newly-renamed "Byte" was announced.^[27] The application works as a spiritual successor to Vine, with the same 6-second looping videos as the primary focus of the application. On Jan 25, 2020, Dominic Hoffman, one of the co-founders of Vine, tweeted about the release of the app.

byte's out https://t.co/9XcoEHqmpX

— dom hofmann (@dhof) January 25, 2020

Colin Kroll's Death

On December 16th, 2018, Vine co-creator and CEO Colin Kroll was found dead at the age of 34 in his apartment New York City, New York. Kroll's girlfriend requested a wellness check on Kroll from the New York Police Department, who found Kroll's body. He was pronounced dead on the scene.^[25]

Kroll was also the co-creator of online interactive gameshow HQ.

A spokesperson for HQ said: "We learned today of the passing of our friend and founder, Colin Kroll, and it's with deep sadness that we say goodbye. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time."

Authorities are investigating the death as a narcotics overdose. Daily Beast Senior Editor Pervaiz Shallwani tweeted,^[26] "Kroll, 34, was found laying face down in his bed unconscious and unresponsive during a welfare check. Narcotics and drug paraphernalia were discovered in the SoHo apartment and Kroll's death is being investigated as a narcotics overdose."

Features

Vine allows its users to create short video clips with audio that are up to six seconds long. The camera only records while the screen is being tapped by the photographer, thus allowing users to easily jump cut from one scene to another or to create a stop motion animation in a similar vein of GIF moving images. The finished image can then be shared on Vine or Twitter. As of March 2013, the app is only available on Apple iOS.

Highlights

Kitten Kicking Vine Controversy

In July 2013, South Carolinian teenager Walter Easley uploaded a Vine video of himself punting a small orange kitten off of a porch into the yard (shown below). The video soon went viral in early August after it was posted to 4chan and Reddit, where many angry users began posting Easley’s personally identifiable information. The controversy eventually came to an end with Easley arrested on charges of animal cruelty.

Air B&B's Vine Film Project

In August 2013, vacation rental website Airbnb announced a hashtag campaign in an attempt to make the first crowd-sourced film shot entirely on Vine. According to the official site Hollywood & Vines, Airbnb's creative team will tweet "shot instructions" from August 22nd to August 27th, during which participants may pick an instruction, shoot a Vine video and share it using the hashtag #airbnbhv. The best of the submissions will be then edited into a longer film to be aired on the Sundance Channel and the finalists will receive a $100 coupon for an Airbnb stay.

Related Memes

#EverybodySpurts

In February 2013, artist Marlo Meekins shared a vine clip of herself turning her head towards the camera and drooling liquid from the mouth while listening to "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. In the following days, numerous other viners shared their own versions with the hashtag #everybodyspurts.^[7]

Will Sasso's Lemon Vines

In February 2013, MAD TV comedian Will Sasso uploaded Vine videos of himself seemingly doing everyday things before suddenly spewing out water and a lemon.

Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal

In April 2013, Vine user Ryan McHenry began uploading a series of videos titled "Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal," pairing various screen projections of Gosling's intense action scenes with a slowly approaching spoon full of cereal.

Smack Cam

In June 2013, Vine user Max Jerry tweeted a video clip titled “Smack Cam,” in which he slaps a man laying on a couch in the face. The video spawned many other Vine users to share videos of themselves hitting unsuspecting friends in the head.

AP Vine Exam

On February 21st, 2018, Twitter user @hayleyroettger^[23] posted a tweet saying she said her friend wasn't "Vine-cultured," so the prepared a mock AP exam about Vines to prove her wrong. The tweet gained over 63,000 retweets and 204,000 likes (shown below).

Several days later, that friend identified as "Karan" uploaded the test to Google Drive and tweeted a link to it, gaining over 1,000 retweets and 2,100 likes (shown below). The entire test, which is 43 multiple questions long, appeared on Select All^[24] on March 2nd, 2018. The test mostly involves filling in the blanks of quotes from famous Vine videos.

Search Interest

External References