People of a certain generation will be thrilled by Elon Musk's tease to bring back the TikTok rival Vine.
Not content with being the new owner of Twitter, Musk, 51, has said that he may want to change the social-media landscape even further by bringing back Vine.
On Sunday night, he asked his followers for their opinion on Vine, and got pulled into a conversation with a prominent YouTuber.
At the time of writing, almost 2 million people had voted on Musk's Twitter poll, with almost 70 percent of people telling the Tesla CEO that he should bring back Vine.
What Did Musk Say About Vine?
Musk's three-word tweet, in which he asked a simple yes or no question, "Bring back Vine?" piqued the interest of millions.
YouTuber MrBeast, who has more than 100 million subscribers, seemed excited by Musk's proposal. "If you did that and actually competed with [TikTok] that'd be hilarious," MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, replied.
What could we do to make it better than TikTok?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2022
Seemingly doing some light market research, Musk replied and asked, "What could we do to make it better than TikTok?"
The comment section after this tweet was filled with suggestions of how the two video-focused social-media sites could compete.
What Is Vine?
Vine was an internet favorite in the 2010s that launched officially in January 2013, but was then discontinued in its original form in January 2017.
The premise of Vine was that users could upload videos no longer than six seconds long onto the social-media space.
The time-limit forced users to be creative with their approach, with many people using the site for short-form comedy and artistic expressions. As with TikTok, users could utilize video-editing tools to make their videos original.
During the social-media site's four-year run, a number of entertainers gained their big break on Vine, including the likes of Shawn Mendes, Logan Paul, King Bach and David Dobrik.
Who Owns Vine?
Vine was created by the trio of Dom Hofmann, Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov (who also co-created HQ Trivia). Twitter purchased Vine for $30 million in October 2012, three months before it officially launched online.
As other platforms like YouTube and Instagram started to introduce their own video-creation software, Twitter announced in October 2016 that it would be discontinuing the Vine app. Users could view and download videos, but wouldn't be able to upload new posts.
Ironically, TikTok had launched in China as Douyin, just one month prior to this.
The Vine archive was available to view for another two years until Twitter discontinued it in 2019. The website reads, "Dear Vine Community - thank you for all the inspiration, laughs, and loops. We have now placed Vine in an archived state."
There is also a link to a Twitter help page that explains all of the restrictions and limitations now placed on the Vine website and on its accounts.
After his own major acquisition of Twitter, Musk now owns the Vine brand, so he has the ability to bring back the social-media sleeping giant.
Newsweek reached out to Musk for further comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
