Jack Dorsey is rebooting Vine, the six-second video app that Twitter acquired in 2012 and shuttered in 2017. The new version is called “Divine” and brings back 500,000 videos from nearly 100,000 original Vine creators. I know it sounds like a lot of content, but at six seconds per video, that's only like 833 hours, or roughly 34 days of continuous watch, which is nothing for modern-day doomscrollers.
Relaunching a new video app with archived content from more than a decade ago without the consent of the original creators — is kind of fucked up!
Many of those creators are in their 30s and 40s now and probably had some questionable material on the original app that's suddenly about to resurface. Imagine if Tom rebooted Myspace and republished your original profile from a public archive. (Though he never would because Tom is the GOAT.)
While I appreciate the nostalgia of bringing back Vine, I definitely don't like the idea of doing it with the original app's content. Not to mention, the video quality is probably horrendous!
Divine should relaunch in style, with a collection of new six-second videos from top creators pre-published on the app before its official launch. Some of them could even recreate their original viral hits to add to the nostalgia.
The resurfacing of old content by a new entity that was never given the rights to the original content feels like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
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