Vine Closure and What Led Up to This

On October 27, Twitter announced the closing down of the ever-popular app, Vine. Vine is an app where users can post six second videos, usually of comedic nature. Twitter acquired the app in 2012, but as other social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook began to implement their own video watching platforms, Vine could no longer compete. Already having let go of nine percent of their workforce, Twitter decided it would be best to let go of Vine altogether.

Like most social media platforms, there are many that use it casually and a few that have it as their career base. Similar to YouTube, there are those who make videos on Vine, also known as Vine Stars, and make a profit. So, what will become of Vine Stars once their main social media platform shuts down? Well, luckily for the Vine Stars and for their fans, there are many other social media platforms that can still accept their content; most have already made that move.

Vine Star Liza Koshy has moved their content to YouTube and has already garnered success from there, as their fans tend to move along with them.  But for some, the situation is direr than previously described. Most very much enjoyed the restriction that Vine provided, allowing people to only post content of six seconds. It challenged people’s creativity and eventually garnered them success through the creativity produced. One Vine content creator who is especially troubled is Gretchen Lohse, a musician who used the unique video content-constricting platform to boost popularity for her musical due, the Carol Cleveland Sings. She states “Vine was its own art form… It was really refreshing and different than the other apps that are out there. It opened up this whole new world of art for us.” Vine stars such as her are perplexed as to where to go next with their content and still maintain their success.

It was recently revealed that, in the efforts to maintain views on the Vine app, Twitter contacted some of its biggest creators on the platform. A deal was offered where, if Vine were to consider paying 18 of the biggest Vine stars 1.2 million and altering their platform to create a more direct interaction between the Vine stars and the fans, the content creators would agree to create three videos every week. But the deal was never put into place and many of these content creators moved onto other platforms, leading to the fall of Vine.