If you still don’t believe that there are some changes afoot in Twitter (for good or bad, we still don’t know), this latest announcement may just convince you. The micro-blogging service bought video social network Vine back in 2012, even before it actually launched, but now they’ve announced that they will be continuing the mobile version and eventually the actual service over the next few months. There was no actual reason in the official statement of course, but there is always a lot of speculation.
The first paragraph of their post says, “we’ll be discontinuing the mobile app” but nothing will be happening yet to the app, website, and of course users’ Vines by today. The changes will be coming over the next few months because they “are going to do this the right way”. Users will still be able to access their Vines through the web version, even when the mobile app will go offline. You will also be able to download your videos, in case you want to keep your works of art or something. Twitter also promised that they will notify users before any changes will be made both to the app and to the website.
The video network, which allowed users to upload 6-second clips, had a great start and was able to build a loyal user base and even gave rise to several “Vine stars”. However, it didn’t grow as much as Twitter expected it to, and just like its mother company, they were slow to adapt to the rapid changes in people’s digital tastes and lives. So this announcement really isn’t that surprising, given the well-documented problems of Twitter lately.
Speculation is still rife that Twitter is going under, hence they’re looking for any takers. They have announced also that they’re laying off 9% of its workforce as they continue to look for sustainable solutions for the company. Vine may be the first casualty, so let’s see what story will unfold because of this.
SOURCE: Vine
