Hours after Twitter's confirmation that it would laying off nine percent of its staff broke the internet, its announcement about shutting down Vine is creating waves. The video-sharing mobile app will soon see doomsday though the website will be active.
A company blog post said,
We value you, 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. You will be notified before we make any changes to the app or website.
The timing of the announcement, coming as it is on the heels of Twitter’s across-the-board job cuts affecting roughly 350 people, is a major reason why it is garnering so much attention.
The company addressed a letter to its shareholders mentioning the priority list of its future businesses.
Vine founder Rus Yusupov later warned his followers on Twitter by saying,
Don't sell your company!
Vine, a video-sharing service that allows users to share six-second-long clips on loop, was created in 2012 and was bought by Twitter for $30 million just before its official launch the same year.
Over time, the app came to compete with other social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. In June this year, Twitter announced the monetisation of Vine with an extension to upload longer videos to the platform. Vine GM Hannah Donovan was heard saying that,
Vine has a really strong brand, and Vine will always be Vine
A lot of Vine stars became popular recording artists after their clips went viral, Shawn Mendes being one among them. Unfortunately, though, Vine never became the destination Twitter wanted. When Vine's co-founders quit, Twitter's interest and investment gradually declined.
Also read : A month after laying off employees in Bengaluru, Twitter now plans to cut 300 jobs
Later in the day, the team had written a blog post thanking all its users. It read,
Thank you. Thank you. To all the creators out there — thank you for taking a chance on this app back in the day. To the many team members over the years who made this what it was — thank you for your contributions. And of course, thank you to all of those who came to watch and laugh every day.
What’s next? We’ll be working closely with creators to make sure your questions are answered and will work hard to do this the right way. 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