Elon Musk says he is looking into bringing back beloved social media app, Vine. Video is one of the most dominant ways people consume content these days. YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and many other apps all have a heavy hand in serving near infinite videos to users and keeping them well-fed with non-stop content. While longform video is nothing new, short form video is a bit more in its infancy in comparison. One of the big players in creating that was an app known as Vine which let users create six second videos. Given the short duration, it challenged users to be creative and create something worthwhile.
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It also kept users extremely engaged because you could watch hundreds of videos in such a short period of time. It was new content dealt at a very rapid rate. Unfortunately, Vine shut down after an eight year run. Advertising dried up on Vine as competing platforms like Instagram invested in short form video content that was a bit longer, but still kept the same idea intact. It wasn’t long before TikTok came in to really capitalize on what Vine could’ve ultimately been. Vine was acquired by Twitter shortly after its launch and there have been rumblings for years that there may be a revival eventually, but nothing has come of it.
However, Elon Musk has claimed that X (formally known as Twitter) is looking into bringing back Vine after the TikTok ban. The social media owner has made a bunch of sweeping changes to Twitter since he acquired it back in late 2022, some of which have been extremely controversial. However, the return of Vine may be one of his better decisions if it actually makes it past the idea stage. Elon Musk had previously polled users to see if they were keen on a Vine revival and it appears people do want it. Musk has a lot of ambitious ideas for the platform, including making it an all-in-one app for a bunch of different services. Vine would make for a smart addition to the app.
Of course, it’s anyone’s guess if Vine would really be able to differentiate itself from the steep competition. If Twitter integrated a Vine revival into its own app sort of like Instagram has Reels built in rather than operating it as its own app that has to grow users, it could work. However, the TikTok ban is expected to potentially be temporary. TikTok announced it is working with Donald Trump to bring the app back. Trump will officially take office on January 20th and it’s possible TikTok will be back as soon as this coming week. Either way, it’s interesting to imagine what Vine might look like in this day and age.