When Vine shut down, many thought it was due to the world simply moving on. Some 5 years later, however, we have seen the emergence of apps such as TikTok, plus the increased popularity of reels on YouTube and Instagram. Given that these are very close in nature to what Vine offered, its closure now presents even more of a quandary. When Vine closed down in 2017, it had millions of users and content producers, so what on Earth happened and why did Vine shut down?
Let’s take a look at just some of the reasons why this insanely popular company closed its doors.
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The Simple Reason As To Why Vine Shut Down
The most basic reason why Twitter decided to shut down the Vine app, was that it just wasn’t making money. Twitter bought the app in 2012, in what appeared to be a seriously impressive move. In fact, at the time $ 30 million appeared to be a steal for Twitter. Despite its popularity, however, the app didn’t have a solid profit-making model, and this would prove to be its undoing. Around 2015 it became clear that the rise of Instagram was a threat to Vine, and this set the ball in motion for its closure.
Failure to Innovate
The popular phrase ‘ innovate or die ’ is incredibly apt for this particular application. When it began operations the app allowed content creators to create 6-second videos. This was a great idea, yet the app took far too long to change this and give content creators more time on a video. Had this happened, it would have opened things up nicely for some brief advertising, thus monetizing the site better. Basically, Vine was great, but it wasn’t lucrative for anyone involved and the tech wasn’t quite there. Twitter actually invested money in a social media monetization team to try and salvage the platform, but by that point it was too little too late.
Instagram Video
Much like so many apps and online businesses from the earlier days, they laid out the plan that others would then follow, before failing themselves. The world is currently obsessed with short-form videos, as pioneered by Vine. Instagram Video was one of the first to do this, and as soon as they launched reels and stories, it was the death knell for Vine, they simply couldn’t compete.
Twitter Errors
The responsibility for Vine’s failure falls squarely on the shoulders of the company that bought it. Not only did Twitter fail to maximize the potential of Vine, but it also ended up causing the app damage when it released its own video solutions. This, coupled with the mismanagement of Vine and letting its founders leave, was exactly why Vine had to be closed down.
There is absolutely no doubt that Vine was onto a good thing, they had pioneered social media in a way that few had previously. Sadly for its creators and then the Twitter team who would go on to manage it, they are now watching TikTok as the hottest application on the planet, which basically delivers the same concept for users. This is why Vine shut down.
