Vine's soundboard lets you add audio memes to your loops
Enough to save Vine? Probably not.
Vine is a six-second comedy echo chamber. As soon as someone creates a meme-worthy joke, the punch line phrase, sound effect or editing technique spreads like wildfire. Usually it's mere imitation, but sometimes Viners will remix the snippet into new, equally creative loops. To support this trend, Vine has added a "soundboard" feature that makes it easy for iOS users to import popular and recognizable clips. "LeBron James," "why you always lyin" and "freshavocado" -- to add these and others, just hit the soundwave icon after recording a new video. You'll then have access to the new library, which the company says will be updated over time.
The feature, while welcome, will do little to stop Vine's troubled trajectory. Reports suggest that the app has stopped growing, and many executives are jumping ship. It's still a hotbed of creative talent, but many of its most popular users have migrated to platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram instead, where the audiences and advertising opportunities are larger. The company has tried to combat this problem with a "watch more" button that allows users to link longer videos to their Vines. A smart change, but one that's done little to change the app's overall perception -- that Vine is now a quirky, but niche platform struggling to stay relevant.
