Twitter recently announced that uploads will soon be disabled on the once wildly popular Vine app. In the future, the Vine app will be morphed into Vine Camera, which will allow users to either post videos directly or save them to their own camera roll.
This formula fits well into the mold made by other picture and video apps such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, who all took their cues from Snapchat.
Changes To Twitter’s Vine
Many users are quite put off by the decision because they enjoyed the fast-paced, comic way in which Vines were posted. Their short time frame meant that an idea had to be captured quickly, with as much information portrayed in as little time as possible. Six seconds, to be exact. Some of the most memorable Vines include “My name’s Jeff” and “Dam Daniel”.
No particular explanation has been given since Twitter’s blog post announcement that came recently. Vines are still viral and circulating around the internet in epic proportions, so it hardly makes any sense. Many users are wondering what Twitter could possibly be thinking and why they would put an end to an app that people are still enjoying to this day.
Vine began in a fashion closely akin to Snapchat. However, it did not evolve as much or as quickly into filters and other features as Snapchat did. Snapchat also chose to monetize their service, while Vine continued as it was. Simple and to the point. Had Vine been able to implement more strategic moves from a business standpoint, monetizing certain features and adding other aspects to the six-second videos, it could likely have been the next social media viral trend.
While Vine has been done away with, and you can no longer download it from the App Store, Twitter did decide to leave the Vine website up. Perhaps it realizes that people are still very much enamored by the Vine phenomena.
On the other hand, it could be that the Twitter Company realizes that it needs to leave a door open, “just in case”. Much like a movie that ends with a scene that gives you the idea that there will be a sequel. Could it be that, at some point in the future, when things are overly populated with video content and features, that something as simple as the Vine app could revitalize video sharing once again? I guess we will wait and see.