R.I.P. Vine: Twitter Kills Its Video-Sharing App

Vine, the short-form video service that gave us stars like singer Shawn Mendes and comedian King Bach, will be shutting down after three years of existence.

Vine and its parent company, Twitter, told users that the current platform and the content on it will remain, but that there will be no further development. In essence, Vine will become a digital museum of the creativity sparked by its 6-second time limit.

Yesterday’s announcement did not elaborate on the details surrounding the shutdown, but it’s not very hard to guess why Vine was given the axe. The platform was extremely popular in its early days, becoming a hub for a diverse array of bite-sized content like comedy, journalism, music, and film-making. However, the introduction of video-sharing tools on other apps like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram pulled creators and viewers away from Vine. Any hope of getting these users back soon fizzled away, as Vine failed to add features to differentiate itself.

The app also had trouble turning popularity into profit, as brands were weary of the platform’s time constraint. Brands that took a chance on Vine pulled their sponsored content when the app’s declining output became evident.
Besides the problems Vine itself faced, the end of the service may actually be attributed more to its parent, Twitter. It is well known that Twitter has also been floundering under serious financial struggles and user growth stagnation. As Twitter attempted to rebrand and focus on its core product of live content, it was clear that Vine did not fall in line with this identity. The added pressure of a failed Twitter sale may have pushed the company over the edge, leading it to restructure by cutting jobs and the dead weight of Vine within the last week.