By: Renee Martin, Emmaus High School – PA
You may recall that in the early days of social media culture there was a barrage of content coming from the groundbreaking video sharing app, Vine. Founded by innovators Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and Colin Kroll in June 2012, Vine was a free way for people to provide six seconds of video content to comedy-hungry consumers. On January 17, 2017, it all came to a screeching halt, as the aforementioned comedy gold-mine came to an end. In a way that the Internet has never seen before, the app was mourned with many “R.I.P. Vine” compilations filled with users favorite memorable clips. In its wake, Vine left the internet with classic content, such as, “Hi, welcome to Chili’s,” “It’s Wednesday my dudes,” and “Freshavacado.”
The possible resurrection of Vine has some students giving mixed feelings on whether it will be a positive revival or disastrous return. Emmaus High School senior Ben Beal is among those who hope for a successful return of the app.
“I think it was a great place to express your opinion and creativity compared to other forms of social media,” says Beal. “I think [vine2] would have to take some steps in the right direction in order to be better than the original, like not inviting certain Viners back. I feel like people who are really popular who shouldn’t be popular will take advantage of it.”
Emmaus junior Ariana Sefranek shares Beal’s enthusiasm for the apps return, anticipating more creative content to come out of it.
“I thought it was really fun and addicting to watch,” says Sefranek. “It was quick entertainment at the time. I don’t think there’s going to be a difference if they come out with a new Vine. More kids could get creative in six seconds but it could also shorten attention spans.”
Vine also led a lot of prominent internet celebrities to their stardom, such as Shawn Mendes, Lele Pons, and Thomas Sanders. When Vine sunk, content creators abandoned ship and all climbed aboard the S.S. YouTube.
However, many of them were unable to start up a successful channel due to the many differences in the media platforms. Other Viners such as Logan Paul, Nash Grier, and Curtis Lepore have all been in hot water at one time or another for various activities. Logan Paul has been involved in recent controversy over filming a dead body in a YouTube video. Nash Grier faced backlash after he told his young female audience how they could ‘look better’. And Curtis Lepore had rape accusations come out against him for which he’s currently taking a plea deal. This raises the important question as to whether they, like other controversial Viners, will be allowed on V2 after their questionable actions. Not wanting certain Viners to make their comeback on the new app strikes a chord with Emmaus senior Keith Lavelle.
“I think it’s gonna affect us dramatically if another Vine comes out,” says Lavelle. “If another Vine came out I think everything would get worse. I’m afraid of all the terrible people who were on it before coming back. A new Vine couldn’t be as good as the original, it died for a reason.”
In its prime, Vine had over 40 million registered users with its content spreading to a wide audience across the globe. Upon the news of the new apps arrival students worry that V2 won’t live up to the originals quality or character. Emmaus junior Jaelyn Miller has similar expectations.
“I don’t think Vine two will be the same because there will be so many new different Viners,” says Miller. “I didn’t find some of the original Viners to be funny, it was mainly just people doing dumb stuff and getting in trouble. [V2] could be positive though, if the majority of stuff is just to make people laugh.”
According to @v2app on Twitter, the public release date goal is sometime in March. New features for the app could potentially include Vines lasting 12 seconds, and also a “nope” button that lets you shape your timeline.