Elon Musk continues to move fast since officially taking over Twitter, and his latest move is resurrecting Vine. According to a report from Axios, Musk has tasked engineers to focus on a reboot of the once-popular video sharing app that could be ready by the end of 2022.
According to Axios, engineers have found Vine’s old code base “needs a lot of work” after not being changed or updated since it was formally shut down by Twitter in 2016. When Vine was active, it became the most-downloaded free app in the iOS App Store. Vine also helped launch the careers of artists like Shawn Mendes, Ruth B, and producer Jay Versace, as well as notorious social media personality Logan Paul.
The ByteDance-owned app TikTok has stepped into the void left behind by Vine. In September 2021, TikTok announced it had reached one billion monthly users. TikTok’s success has spawned imitators like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Vine’s co-founder Dom Hofmann launched the app’s successor, Byte, in 2020, but since then it has been re-branded twice: first as Clash and then as Huddle.
However, nostalgia for the original Vine remains strong. On Sunday, Musk posted a Twitter poll asking if he should bring the app back and roughly 70% of responses are in favor as of publishing.
Musk’s other big initiative is introducing paid verification, which could cost users as much as $19.99 per month. He has reportedly threatened employees with termination if the new feature doesn’t launch by November 7th.
Predictably, Twitter has seen an influx in the use of the N-word and other slurs since Musk’s acquisition became official on October 27th. Shortly after taking the reins, the Tesla CEO fired three top executives, and mass layoffs are expected to follow.
Bring back Vine?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2022