There’s no denying the integral role that the social media platform Twitter currently plays in our society. It’s been infamously used by and against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his cronies, read aloud by current president Barack Obama, and has even become the vehicle that now drives most beef in the hip hop world. Needless to say, Twitter has grown into quite the successful entity, but they now seem to be admitting failure on a major front.
After purchasing the social media video application Vine back in 2012, Twitter planned to integrate the platform’s 6-second loops as a part of their core product. Twitter launched Vine at the start of 2013, and it became a hot destination for short sports highlights, visual effects, and comedic skits. But after Instagram stole the show with their own video feature a few months later, Vine’s growth was stunted and never quite recovered.
Now, Twitter is announcing that they will be killing off the Vine application, a move that will come at the expense of 9% of their workforce, as roughly 350 people will subsequently be laid off. Though the news may come as a surprise to some, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. After Vine co-founders all jumped ship shortly after Twitter acquired the platform, they never quite invested the proper amount of money and attention into expanding the platform. On top of that, Twitter has been aiming at a complete overhaul of their core product, which has been recently lacking in new users and overall revenue growth.
Still, Twitter won’t be vanquishing your collection of Vines from existent. Alongside the saddening announcement, they’ve also put out a statement promising users access to the content that has already been posted on the Vine platform:
“We value you, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way,” the company said. “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.”
Rest in peace Vine. The world thanks you for becoming one of the first video-centric social media platforms and giving numerous users their 6-seconds of fame.
