We’re less than three weeks into the new year and I’ve already lost one of my closest, dearest friends. I could always count on him for a laugh. He always knew how to pick me up when I was having a bad day.
We all knew it was coming. As his health declined, my dear friend had been on life support since October. It was simply a matter of time.
Hopefully, we may find some solace in the fact that it was another close friend who pulled the plug. Still, he was taken far too soon, passing just days before his fourth birthday.
In his prime, Vine was a friend to all, always giving and never taking. A laugh, a cry, an adorable puppy video — it was always about you, never him.
But we cannot mourn forever. We mustn’t cry on a six second never-ending loop — that’s not what he would have wanted. We must look onward to the future, to the new frontier of Vine.
First launched on Jan. 24, 2013, Vine was a bold new way to share snippets of video. These videos covered every genre of entertainment — sports clips, musical acts, artsy nature videos and the cutest animal videos on the internet.
But Vine’s most significant contribution came by revolutionizing comedy on the internet. Instead of subscribing to YouTube stars and watching long videos, viewers were able to quickly scroll through funny videos in a new and easy format.
Some users catapulted themselves to internet stardom, a la Nash Grier, by creating large-scale productions and gaining millions of followers, while others captured simple, everyday events on camera that resulted in viral videos and new memes.
The latter, which was my favorite type of Vine, showed the simplicity of the app. Anybody could film anything, and it had the potential to take off.
