Vine — what was the app’s significance In digital history?

In the summer of 2012, the app Vine was one of the first platforms of its time that allowed people to create six second videos that could be shared between users and played on loop. In 2013 Vine was sold to Twitter where it became the most downloaded — video sharing app in the market. At its peak, it pushed creators to create ridiculous, little to no context videos within six seconds. This was the start of platforms turning everyday users into digital creators. Shawn Medes, Lele Pons, and David Dobrik were some of the biggest creators on Vine which ultimately led to their fame. Without Vine, these celebrities would have never had the exposure to become as popular as they are.

During and after Vine’s prime, the short-video app was imitated by larger competitors. Different social media platforms implemented features vine was known for such as sharing short videos between users, storytelling in the digital world, and the creation of relationships between creators and their followers. Creating this template, vine changed internet culture. Vine created various trends across the platform such as meme-like videos. The meaningless, little to no context videos created a new type of humor, almost feeling like an inside joke to users on the app. This gave a different approach to comedy, creating a new generation of comedy stars and creators. The type of humor vine created began to spread to other social media platforms.

Growing up, I never had the app Vine. I was too young to have social media and by the time I was able to, Vine was already dead. My friends and I in middle school would always watch and quote famous vines. At the time, I never realized the significance Vine had on social media and how it created the new generation of comedy. However, after doing research on the app Vine, I realized how various other social media platforms modeled their app after vine but with added features. Because of these added features, vine struggled to keep up with the new competition and began to lose users leading to its demise. Even though the app was dead, users on different social media platforms would repost or make compilations of the most viral vines of all time. The short- comedy clips molded the future of multiple social media platforms and created a template that multiple social media platforms use to this day. This shows Vine has had a significance in digital history.

Overall, Vine has had a significance on other social media platforms due to different apps mimicking the short-form style videos that dramatically grew their audiences. Without the creation of vine, multiple social media platforms may have never implemented the ability of users to share short videos with one another. Even though the app Vine was short-lived, its application is still relevant to digital use to this day.

Wong, Wilson. “A Look Back at Vine — the Six-Second Video App That Made US Scream, Laugh and Cry.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 17 Jan. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/look-back-vine-six-second-video-app-made-us-scream-laugh-cry-rcna10910.

Herrman, John. “Vine Changed the Internet Forever. How Much Does the Internet Miss It?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/style/byte-vine-short-video-apps.html.

Vondenbrink, Kate. “The Significance of Vine in Digital History.” Medium, Medium, 28 Aug. 2021, medium.com/@kvondenbrink/the-significance-of-vine-in-digital-history-75a8e9d338d2.