Vine, the defunct platform for sharing very short videos, could well come back like a phoenix! Elon Musk, the new boss of Twitter, asked the engineers to examine the code of the service… to better bring it back?
In 2012, Jack Dorsey, who was then the boss of Twitter, bought Vine. This application, which made it possible to share short videos, saw the emergence of a community that took on the draconian conditions imposed by Vine (no more than 6 seconds per video!) to create out-of-the-ordinary content. Unfortunately, Twitter shut down the service in 2016.
Elon Musk’s followers want Vine back
This closure is the biggest regret by Jack Dorsey, as he lamented a few years ago. Vine indeed foreshadowed TikTok and if Twitter had kept the platform, maybe it would have turned into a real sensation. But the future could perhaps be kinder to Vine.
Last Sunday, the prolific new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, posted a poll in which he asked his followers whether to bring Vine back. The result was unequivocal, almost 70% yes!
Bring back Vine?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2022
Following this survey, Musk reportedly asked Twitter engineers to take a look at Vine’s code, presumably to see if it was still usable. Given its age, it is probably better to start from scratch! According to an employee of the social network, the code as it currently stands “ needs a lot of work “… Nevertheless, the new CEO would like to move quickly and would consider relaunching Vine this year.
If Vine were to return from the dead, the app would have to scramble to carve out a place in the now crowded short-video market. TikTok obviously came out on top, but YouTube and Instagram also copied the leader with their own versions of these videos. Nevertheless, Elon Musk is ready to do anything to restart the machine and reap revenue, and Vine is a perfect vehicle for publicity.