Vine (service) - Funny Vine Videos

Vine is a download-only short-form video hosting service where users could share six-second-long looping video clips. On October 27, 2016, Twitter announced it would disable uploads, but viewing and download would continue to work.

The service was founded in June 2012, and American microblogging website Twitter acquired it in October 2012, just before its official launch. Users' videos were published through Vine's social network and can be shared on other services such as Facebook and Twitter. Vine's app can also be used to browse through videos posted by other users, along with groups of videos by theme, and trending, or popular, videos. Vine competed with others such as Instagram and Mobli. In December 2015 Vine had 200 million active users.

History

Vine was founded by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and Colin Kroll in June 2012. The company was acquired by Twitter in October 2012 for a reported $30 million. It originated in Florida.

Vine officially launched on January 24, 2013 as a free app for iOS devices. On June 2, 2013, an Android version was released. On November 12, 2013 the application was released for Windows Phone.

In a couple of months, Vine became the most used video sharing application in the market, even with low adoption of the app. On April 9, 2013, Vine became the most-downloaded free app within the iOS App Store and on May 1, 2014, Vine launched the web version of the service to explore videos.

On October 14, 2014, an Xbox One version was released allowing Xbox Live members to watch the looping videos.

In July 2014, Vine updated their app with a new "loop count" meaning every time someone watches a vine, a number on top of the video will appear showing how many times it was viewed. The "loop count" also includes views from vines that are embedded onto other websites.

In August 2015, Vine introduced Vine Music, whose "Snap to Beat" feature created perfect infinite music loops.

In June 2016, Vine announced that it was experimenting with letting users attach video clips up to 140 seconds.

Vine Kids

In January 2015, Vine launched Vine Kids, an app designed specifically for children.

Discontinuation of Vine service

On October 27, 2016, Vine announced that Twitter would be discontinuing the Vine mobile app. Vine said users of the service would be notified before any changes to the app or website are made. The company also stated that the website and the app will be still available for users to view and download Vines; however, users will no longer be able to post.

On December 16, 2016, it was announced that the Vine mobile app would remain operational as a standalone service, allowing users to publish their videos directly to Twitter instead of Vine; the Vine community website will shutdown in January. The app will be called Vine Camera and will let users take six-second videos.

Features

Vine enabled users to record short video clips up to around six seconds long while recording through its in-app camera. The camera would record only while the screen is being touched, enabling users to edit on the fly or create stop motion effects.

Additional features were added to the app in July 2013; these include grid and ghost image tools for the camera, curated channels (including themed areas and trending topics/users), the ability to "revine" videos on a personal stream, and protected posts.

Uses

Vine has attracted different types of uses, including short-form comedy and music performances, video editing, and stop motion animation. The service has also been used for journalism: on February 1, 2013, a Turkish journalist used it to document the aftermath of the 2013 United States embassy bombing in Ankara. Vine has also gained ground as a promotional tool; in 2013, the track listing of Daft Punk's album Random Access Memories was revealed via a Vine video, and on September 9, 2013, Dunkin Donuts became the first company to use a single Vine as an entire television advertisement.

Music-oriented videos have also had success on the service; in July 2013, a Vine post featuring a group of women twerking to the 2012 song "Don't Drop That Thun Thun" became viral, spawned response videos, and led the previously-obscure song to peak at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In March 2013, 22 Vines were presented in an exhibit entitled #SVAES (The Shortest Video Art Ever Sold) at the Moving Image art fair in New York City. Copies of the videos were available to purchase on thumb drives for US$200 each. Angela Washko's "Tits on Tits on Ikea" was sold to Dutch art advisor, curator and collector Myriam Vanneschi, during the event, marking the first ever sale of a Vine as art.

Reception

A BBC review described collections of Vine videos to be "mesmerizing", like "[watching a] bewildering carousel of six-second slices of ordinary life [roll] past."

Soon after its launch, Vine faced criticism for how it handled pornography; while porn is not forbidden by Twitter's guidelines, one sexually explicit clip was accidentally featured as an "Editor's Pick" in the Vine app as a result of "human error". Because pornographic content violates Apple's terms of service, the app's rating was changed to 17+ in February 2013 following a request by Apple.

Viners are often criticized for their use of racial stereotypes in many of their videos. Many Vine videos portray the difference between White Americans and African Americans. Kim Pearson, chair of the department of African-American studies at The College of New Jersey, stated that "Vine videos may impact viewers, especially when there’s a lack of context, teaching them to accept racial boundaries."

Vine was listed among Time's 50 Best Android Apps for 2013.