The company made the surprise announcement in a blog post today. Vine launched in 2013 with a new concept for videos that enabled it to become an instant hit. Vine clips are only six seconds in length and loop indefinitely. This characteristic enabled the platform to quickly gain a reputation for housing creative, light-hearted content.
The fun is now over though. Twitter said it plans to shut down Vine’s mobile app “in the coming months,” preventing users from uploading and sharing new content. The Vine website will remain online for the foreseeable future, keeping all published videos publicly viewable. The company pledged to contact users before it makes any further move to shut down the platform.
Twitter said it will be handling the shutdown “the right way” to ensure creators aren’t separated from their content. This is the first time a major social network has shut down and users ranging from individuals to corporate promotional departments will be affected by the loss of the service. Twitter said it values the support Vine has received but did not disclose why it is pulling the plug.
“Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today,” the company posted online. “We value your, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way. You’ll be able to access and download your Vines. We’ll be keeping the website online because we think it’s important to still be able to watch all the incredible Vines that have been made.”
Unnamed sources told The Verge that the closure is related to wider cost cutting at Twitter. Today, Vine was hit by “significant” layoffs. Twitter has not said how many at the company were affected or if employees would receive new jobs.
Vine has not developed into the powerhouse social network Twitter anticipated. It bought the app for $30 million before its 2013 launch, realising the potential of its format. However, as Vine’s co-founders departed and Twitter itself struggled to gain users, the app has been gradually neglected. It has received few new features since launch.
Twitter has not stated when Vine will stop working. It said it will share more news over the coming weeks and months. According to the company, users will be involved at every stage. The app will be used to display notifications warning of the impending shutdown before any milestones are reached.
“We’ll be working closely with creators to make sure your questions are answered and will work hard to do this the right way,” the Vine Team stressed. “We’ll be sharing more details on this blog and our Twitter account, and will notify you through the app when we start to change things.”
Twitter and Vine thanked the service’s users for “taking a chance” on the app “back in the day.” The wording hints at Vine’s continued failure to grow its audience, suggesting Twitter now views it as a stale platform that’s unlikely to make any further headway. The shutdown is unprecedented though, seemingly an admission that social media is too crowded for every platform to be a success.
In recent years, rivals including Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram have built Vine’s concept into their own apps, augmenting the basic video sharing functionality with new extras such as filters and masks. Vine has changed little since its introduction, retaining a simplicity that may have been its downfall.
