“DO IT FOR THE VINE”
This was a popular phrase often heard when I was in high school in 2011. Vine seemed to take the world by surprise with it’s 6 second video platform. I truly believe the mindless scrolling habits that Vine created for it’s users paved the way for apps like Tik-Tok and Instagram.
As a high school student, my friends and I often shared “Vines” as they were called, with one another and giggled during class at the silly and funny 6 second videos. Skits, jokes, magic tricks, senseless and abstract humor made Vine what it was — a place for people to mindlessly scroll and enjoy a social media platform for the first time. Sure, Facebook initiated the endless scroll a few years prior, but Vine showed how easy social media could be used.
Anyone could film anything, as long as it was less than 6 seconds, and post it to Vine. Some of the more memorable Vines for me were the abstract humor that my friends and I still quote till today. For example, this Vine, was so silly and pointless that it was funny… and as a 24 year old adult I still reference this dumb video for a laugh with my friends. You never knew what you would scroll across on Vine and that is what made it so addicting. People could scroll for hours without recognizing how much time has passed since the videos were so short.
Content creators quickly learned they could make skits and make money from brand deals on Vine and started pushing content out as fast as possible. Similar to what “Tik-Tokers” are doing now, and honestly I think Vine helped establish that relationship with social media “influencers” and brands.
Without Vine, I don’t think people would see social media as a way to reach people and influence followers. Social media can become a means of income for an entertaining person, and I believe Vine was the first to do this.
