It probably shouldn’t have worked.
I mean — six seconds? There’s no way that span of time should be sufficient enough to do anything in. Ten seconds probably would have made more sense. You could actually accomplish something in 30. However, Vine chose to mandate videos be just six short seconds, and the world was never the same.
Now, Vine is dead.
Vine closed its doors Jan. 17, after announcing its impending demise in late October 2016.
We watched unbelievable singing, small magic tricks and tiny set-ups to quick punchlines. Somehow in one second more than five and one less than seven, users let their creativity shine. There’s one Vine in particular of a llama prancing to DMX that probably deserves a Pulitzer for important video journalism.
This is all well and good, but where Vine truly made its mark wasn’t on the stage, the streets or on llama farms. It was on the court and the field.
The sports landscape, especially the one in which we currently find ourselves, was seemingly crafted with Vine in mind. Highlights, lowlights and then-Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter throwing his mouth guard only to be caught by a fan. Vine somehow made watching sports even better.
If there was a spectacular sports moment like New York Giants’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. catching a touchdown with one hand against the Dallas Cowboys or the aforementioned Beckham fighting a kicking net, it would be on Vine in the blink of an eye.
If something happened, someone was filming. Vine really was the perfect representation of sports in the 21st century. Twitter began the idea of instant gratification and news. Vine built on it with actual plays from the game and inserted them straight into your timeline for your viewing pleasure.
Perhaps the quintessential Vine athlete was Stephen Curry, a man ostensibly created in a lab for six-second clips. His obnoxious 3-pointers, breakneck dribbling and all-around brilliance worked perfectly in these small bursts.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the NBA’s growing popularity during the last few years was bolstered, in some part, by the video-making social media application.
Along with the shortened clips of athletic high points, Vine somehow became a behind-the-scenes look.
Sports journalists and athletes alike used Vine to reach the people quickly. If there was a fan dancing on the jumbotron or a half-court shot hit during halftime, the video often hit the six-second app before it appeared on television.
Vine grew into a platform that could provide exclusive looks at inclusive events, and that’s why it’ll be missed.
There will always be highlights online - maybe not with the promptness or specificity of Vine, but they will surely be there.
Losing Vine is losing an unfettered access to the goings-on of stadiums and arenas around the country, which became a treat over the past few years.
We’re also going to lose the potential of llamas prancing to other rap songs for six seconds.
These are dark times — dark times indeed.
gigottfr@indiana.edu
@gott31
