It was a sad time for the digital community when Vine closed its doors after Twitter took it over. Many creators took to platforms like YouTube to speak about their grief over losing a platform that not only let their creative juices flow within six seconds but also gave some their foray into digital careers.
Although Vine did not pick up as much in India as it did everywhere else, there have been some stand-out comedians like Jose Covaco as Hoezaay and Bhuvan Bam with BB Ki Vines that gained a lot of popularity through the app. As Vine Camera, a new app by Twitter that allows users to shoot videos and post them to Twitter, launches today, the scenario looks optimistic. Popular Viners from across the country weigh in on the demise of Vine and the new app on its way.
A popular Viner from Chennai, Ash Kumar, says, “It’s terrible that Vine’s gone because it was a great comedic platform. I used to do a lot of pranks and share my Dubsmashes on it as well, and earned quite a following there. I’m yet to find an app that allows me to do that.” He goes on to share his hopes for the new app, “I hope it’s similar and has more benefits. I want it to be able to have the same followers we had initially, because for me it’s been two years in the making. And I really want them to keep the simplicity of what Vine initially was.”
“It was really sad when the news of Vine shutting down spread because my digital foray happened because of the app. There was also a slump in India, and Vine and fierce competition from Snapchat. But Vine Camera provides another opportunity for these six-second videos shot just on phones to tell stories again. I think inter-app integration is important,” says Varun Thakur, whose Vicky Malhotra Vines and Snapchat stories earned him recognition across the country.
When asked if he was worried that there might no more be a community of followers, he responds, “There wasn’t a big community to begin with. There were only a handful of people making Vines from India, and I’m hoping that the Twitter exposure with its new avatar will actually form a bigger Vine community here. I’m excited to try my hand at the app.”
Supriya Joshi, whose account Supaarwoman shot to fame with her Vines, says, “Vine was one of the coolest social media platforms to showcase your creativity. To condense your message into seven seconds was something really awesome. But I understood that as a platform, it wouldn’t last, because Snapchat really became a craze, and I don’t see it diminishing any time soon. But I’ll be missing it for sure.”
She also says that she believes Vine Camera will be an integration with Twitter, but is apprehensive of videos on the app being laggy and hence not being popular. Supriya adds, “I’m always up to trying out new social media sites and apps, that’s how I got into Vine in the first place. So, I’d love to test this out as well.”
Stand-up comic Karan Talwar also shares his point of view — “I think it’s just the evolution of things online. The life cycle of everything is speed up in the digital space. Maybe even Snapchat and Twitter will shut down in the future and give way for other apps. There were a lot of internal problems with Twitter to begin with, when it came to creating revenue and I think Vine Camera is a way of doing that.”
He goes on to say, “Vine never really caught up in India and I don’t think uploading Vines to Twitter will really make a difference to creators. The followers will move with you to other social media sites if they enjoy what you put out. There were only a few content creators like Jose, Varun, Bhuvan who put out regular videos but if you see YouTube, comics make videos at least once a week, even twice or thrice a week sometimes. So, I’m not sure Vine Camera will be a major setback to Viners here.”
