[Boy and Girl Walking to School]
[Girl] While you were gone you missed three exams.
[Boy] Really?
[Girl] And twenty homework assignments!
[Boy] Ok, I’m gonna be right back.
[Voiceover] And then I flew myself into the sun.
Where’s the rest?
That is the rest.The writing above is the entire script of the Vine video “After missing one day of school,” by Vine creators Thomas Sanders and Brittany Kelly. Vine is mobile app that lets you create and upload funny videos where other people can see them on repeat.
But there’s a catch.
Vines have a time limit: six seconds or less.
Now you might be thinking, “Six seconds? That’s too short to make anything!” Well, there’s 39 million videos to prove you wrong. From memes to short sketches, Vine has allowed for a new type of comedy to develop: internet humor.
Internet humor, for the uninitiated, is a huge mess. It’s mash of cute animals, a new set of punctuation rules and gifs so random you can’t stop laughing.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
On October 27, 2016, a day that will live in infamy, Vine announced that it was closing its mobile app. But slowly. The app and website will not be shut down for several months, giving users ample time to download their vines.
“But why would they do such a horrible thing?” we all cry.
Because Vine was nowhere near as profitable as it seemed to be. According to this article, in October, Twitter’s (Vine’s parent company) stock was selling at $17, an all time low. To save, Twitter decided to cut the least profitable aspect, Vine.
But why was Vine so bad at making money?
Well one big reason is the Viners. Like YouTube, Vine has paid creators, (not-so) creatively dubbed “Viners.” These Viners not only make bank, but once they get enough fame, jump ship to larger platforms like Instagram, Facebook and, the ultimate sign of internet success, YouTube. And unlike these larger platforms, Vine doesn’t really have any way of making money. Larger social media networks generate revenue through advertisements, but since Vines are only six seconds long, and looped, there’s really no time for ads to run. Finally, Vine couldn’t compete with Snapchat and Instagram’s new video feature. Both Snapchat and Instagram offer ten second videos, and in the world of tiny movies, those four seconds are eons of time.
But some good has come out of all this.
Remember when I said that Vine’s creation led to a new type of comedy? Well Vine’s death has too. In honor of their favorite Viners, viewers, especially on mostly limitless Tumblr, have made compilation videos of their favorite vines. These videos are about three to four minutes long, and they’re the best three minutes of your day. Oddly enough, it was Vine compilations that got me interested in Vine in the first place. I made a Vine account, back in 2013 like everyone else, but aside from the occasional vine posted on another social media platform, I never watched any.
(Isn’t that ironic?)
If you’re worried that you’ll never be able to enjoy short videos again, don’t.
Vine won’t be going away completely. On December 16, Vine announced that they would be introducing a toned-down version of the Vine app -- Vine Camera -- in the new year. Vine Camera will allow users to create videos, but instead of posting them on Vine, they can be saved or uploaded directly to users’ Twitter accounts. It doesn’t look like it’ll have the same charm as Vine did, but I suppose in a fast-paced world like ours, you take what you can get.
By Anusha N.
[Girl] While you were gone you missed three exams.
[Boy] Really?
[Girl] And twenty homework assignments!
[Boy] Ok, I’m gonna be right back.
[Voiceover] And then I flew myself into the sun.
Where’s the rest?
 |
| Photo credit: Foter.com |
But there’s a catch.
Vines have a time limit: six seconds or less.
Now you might be thinking, “Six seconds? That’s too short to make anything!” Well, there’s 39 million videos to prove you wrong. From memes to short sketches, Vine has allowed for a new type of comedy to develop: internet humor.
Internet humor, for the uninitiated, is a huge mess. It’s mash of cute animals, a new set of punctuation rules and gifs so random you can’t stop laughing.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
On October 27, 2016, a day that will live in infamy, Vine announced that it was closing its mobile app. But slowly. The app and website will not be shut down for several months, giving users ample time to download their vines.
“But why would they do such a horrible thing?” we all cry.
Because Vine was nowhere near as profitable as it seemed to be. According to this article, in October, Twitter’s (Vine’s parent company) stock was selling at $17, an all time low. To save, Twitter decided to cut the least profitable aspect, Vine.
But why was Vine so bad at making money?
Well one big reason is the Viners. Like YouTube, Vine has paid creators, (not-so) creatively dubbed “Viners.” These Viners not only make bank, but once they get enough fame, jump ship to larger platforms like Instagram, Facebook and, the ultimate sign of internet success, YouTube. And unlike these larger platforms, Vine doesn’t really have any way of making money. Larger social media networks generate revenue through advertisements, but since Vines are only six seconds long, and looped, there’s really no time for ads to run. Finally, Vine couldn’t compete with Snapchat and Instagram’s new video feature. Both Snapchat and Instagram offer ten second videos, and in the world of tiny movies, those four seconds are eons of time.
But some good has come out of all this.
Remember when I said that Vine’s creation led to a new type of comedy? Well Vine’s death has too. In honor of their favorite Viners, viewers, especially on mostly limitless Tumblr, have made compilation videos of their favorite vines. These videos are about three to four minutes long, and they’re the best three minutes of your day. Oddly enough, it was Vine compilations that got me interested in Vine in the first place. I made a Vine account, back in 2013 like everyone else, but aside from the occasional vine posted on another social media platform, I never watched any.
(Isn’t that ironic?)
If you’re worried that you’ll never be able to enjoy short videos again, don’t.
Vine won’t be going away completely. On December 16, Vine announced that they would be introducing a toned-down version of the Vine app -- Vine Camera -- in the new year. Vine Camera will allow users to create videos, but instead of posting them on Vine, they can be saved or uploaded directly to users’ Twitter accounts. It doesn’t look like it’ll have the same charm as Vine did, but I suppose in a fast-paced world like ours, you take what you can get.
By Anusha N.