What you need to know
- Elon Musk polled Twitter users on whether or not they would want a Vine reboot.
- Musk has reportedly assigned engineers to the sift through the aging code.
- Vine was a Twitter product before it was shut down in 2016.
- Elon Musk previously polled users on an Edit button before the feature was officially announced.
Musk is just days into his official ownership of Twitter, and already the billionaire has already set his eyes on reviving the long-long Vine app.
Twitter's new owner tweeted a poll late on Sunday, asking users if they would like for him to bring back Vine. As of Monday afternoon, the responses lean heavily towards "Yes," with 69% voting in favor of the comeback.
Bring back Vine?October 31, 2022
If you're unfamiliar, Vine is was a video service that looped six-second videos. The service was purchased by Twitter in 2012 but was kept somewhat separate from the social media platform. However, despite its popularity, the app was shut down in 2016, although users were able to view the content for some time after, and some of it can be found on YouTube through compilations.
The discontinuation of Vine gave way to longer-form video platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and more, which have focused heavily on creators and monetization. Meanwhile, Twitter's last significant video-focused effort crashed and burned when the company killed Fleets in 2021
According to Axios, engineers have already started working on the reboot, sifting through the app's old, unchanged code. It's reported that the reboot could happen by the year's end, although someone who previously worked on Vine suggested it would be easier to start over than to rework the existing code.
A Twitter spokesperson says they have nothing to share on the matter.
A proper Vine reboot could prove popular or fall into seeming obscurity like its spiritual successor, Byte, did when it launched in early 2020. The app was helmed by the original Vine co-founder and has gone through several name changes since its inception.
If Vine does come back, it would be interesting to see if it sticks to the six-second format as competing platforms continue to push for longer videos.
Interestingly, the last time Elon Musk polled users on their interest in a long-awaited feature, Twitter later announced that it was working on the Edit button, which is currently available for testing on Twitter Blue.
