18 SCREW UPS

That Dug Their Graves and Lessons Learnt

- Bidisha Mitra

Vine

Vine was one of the most entertaining and popular platforms in 2013, with its rapid rise and hilarious content. People were quoting Vines left and right and it’s almost a guarantee that others would understand your reference. Even when it was a simple “Road work ahead?”, someone would complete it with “Well, I sure hope it does.” With over 200 million active viewers, Vine was thriving.

But where is Vine now? After competition rose around shortform video content, Vine was unable to keep up after their creators refused to extend beyond their 6-second format. In 2016, they announced uploads would no longer be an option and would only go through Twitter (now X) or be saved on a camera roll. After a successor called Byte was created and failed in 2023, there were no other options to save Vine.

SO WHAT WENT WRONG WITH VINE AND HOW DO WE LEARN FROM THEM?

DON'T INVEST IN ONE MEDIUM FOR CONTENT; KEEP UP THE CREATIVITY

It is arrogant to believe that a single form of content will be successful for decades to come. Trends come and go and a business must evolve with them. While several businesses have been successful with one medium of content, it's not the ideal way to function. MySpace was another prime example of it. No one would have thought MySpace would fail but now it's almost inevitable that it did. Content creators need variety and Vine did not offer that freedom of choice.

FOSTER A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY

Vine had a smaller community compared to its competitors like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. The community of Vine had a different advantage and it was their support for one another through this niche environment. Vine's niche was its highlight and their creators were the best in the game. Fostering that supportive community can be so powerful.