Why Must Vine Shut Down?
Although Vine hasn't given reasons for why they're shutting down, there is speculation among social media users and marketing leaders. One of the reasons Vine is shutting down is because Instagram has taken over users and market share. In Mike Isaac's words, a tech reporter on Twitter for The Times, "Vine never recovered from Instagram's video launch a few years back. That threat of stealing users and market share was real, and it worked."
Another contributing factor to Vine's end is more than half of its top influencers left the platform. Their reasons for leaving usually involves finding better monetization opportunities elsewhere. Vine's old top influencers have migrated to YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram to grow their audiences while earning more money.
Why Did People Love Vine?
One of the main reasons people loved Vine was for its short, creative, and funny videos on loop. Sports fans loved uploading their favorite moments from the game, so they could easily watch it on loop without having to manually replay it.
Vine wasn't just used for entertainment either. It played an important role during the Ferguson protests and the following months after Ferguson. Vine was used to illustrate the tension between police officers and protestors. Remember that Ferguson occurred in 2014 before Periscope and Twitter video existed.
As Tracy Clayton, host of Another Round on Buzzfeed, pointed out, Vine also served as a platform for young minority performers. They could express themselves on Vine and grow a following without the confines of conventional media. Black comedy had a strong presence on Vine.
Many people have already expressed on Twitter and other sites that they will miss Vine. The app has rose in downloads and usage recently as people revisit their favorite vines and upload their last vines before the service officially shuts down. How about you? Will you miss Vine too? Were you a creator on vine or more on the user side?