Twitter pulls the plug on Vine

Twitter’s recent series of misfortune is seemingly taking a turn for the worse as the company has decided to pull the plug on Vine, an app they called one of their foundational acquisitions.

The looping video platform, a part of Twitter since October 2012 is being wound up by the unsettled microblogging platform, since the company failed to find any takers. Rumoured suitors Google, Salesforce, and Disney all pulled out of the race to acquire Twitter in quick succession, owing to their respective reasons ranging from Twitter’s unsuitable bully problem to its sagging appeal among users.

In their official statement Twitter explained that the website or the apps will not be taken down, nor will the support be pulled out immediately. Vine enthusiasts and users will have access to their vines, and download them if they wish to do so.

In case of any changes being made, either to the app or website, Twitter promises to notify its users. The blog post is short and slightly melancholy, as one can picture Twitter as a person, holding back tears as it reads an obituary to one of its successful acquisitions.

Vine’s demise comes soon after Twitter cut its workforce by 9% to appease Wall Street and somehow keep itself afloat in a market that is slowly becoming disenchanted with it. Once the hotspot for celebrities, politicians and the general public to stay in the know, Twitter couldn’t outgrow its competitors in the social media arena.

Not being able to capitalize Vine’s popularity, Twitter watched Snapchat and Instagram leave Vine behind, yet it maintained its cult status among the Vine faithful. But it appears Twitter is cutting its losses, and goodbye Vine.

It is only a matter of time before the Vine faithful will move onto Snapchat or Instagram, further alienating Twitter as it stares into the abyss, as the talks of a takeover have died down. The market is flooded with wild assumptions as to what Twitter’s future course of action could be, but no immediate revival can be foreseen.

Turbulent times lie ahead for Twitter, even as Vine co-founders are leaving not so subtle hints to Twitter on Twitter, like this one here from Vine co-founder Rus Yusupov, one of the three co-founders, all of whom have left the company.

Don’t sell your company!

— Rus (@rus) October 27, 2016

From being one of the top apps on the iTunes App Store, Vine currently sits at a disappointing 284 rank in the most popular apps category according to data from App Annie.

Have you been a Vine user? What are thoughts about this recent development? Let us know at team@socialsamosa.com