5 Burning Questions We Have About "V2," Vine's Possible Return
Too much to handle.
On Wednesday, Vine founder Dom Hofmann released what could be the most beautiful and redeeming news of the year: a cryptic tweet suggesting Vine might be coming back after it was shut down by Twitter back in January 2017.
In just a few hours, Hofmann’s tweet has garnered close to 70,000 retweets and 117,000 likes. So clearly, the people are pleased — but mildly confused.
Though Hofmann’s tweet had no words, the single image spoke volumes.
As bad as we all want to know what the hell is going on with “V2,” we probably won’t get any answers soon. In the meantime, we put together the most pressing questions about Vine 2.0. Hofmann, help us!
1. Who Will Be the New Vine Stars?
Vine created an entirely new crop of stars, like Brittany Furlan, Thomas Sanders, and more. These personalities were also entrepreneurs, and some made tens of thousands of dollars for doing a six-second advertisement on Vine. On V2, will those stars remain the same? Who will the newcomers be?
2. How Long Will Each “Loop” Be? Will There Be Loops at All?
Vine’s six-second platform is, to me, sacred. It’s the perfect amount of time to mesmerize and confuse whoever’s watching so that they’ll watch the same bizarre clip a hundred times. That said, who knows if Vine will make the loops longer, like its former parent company Twitter’s decision to move from 140 to 280 characters — or use an entirely different format.
3. How Will V2 Try to Commodify the App?
At this point, we have no idea. Vine failed in part last time because Snapchat eclipsed it, but maybe Hofmann has plans to make it a more mainstream success than a cult sensation.
4. Will It Still Be Called Vine?
The name Vine is iconic — and no, we don’t feel like we’re overstating things one bit — but it’s worth wondering if this potential successor would share the same name. Twitter still holds the trademark on the name Vine, so if Hofmann is working independently of the platform’s former owner, he may need to go with a new name … like, say, V2. But no matter what it’s officially called, everyone is probably just going to call it Vine.
5. Will It Be Indie or Backed by Something Big?
In a series of tweets last week, Dom Hofmann explained that his next project would be self-funded. So if V2 is what he’s alluding to, then it seems he’ll be in control.
Perhaps the Biggest Lingering Question Is: Why Do We Need Vine at All?
Vine is a constellation of the best — and, oftentimes, most embarrassing — parts of the human experience. In watching six-second loops over and over, we get a peek into the minds of people we’ve never met. Sure, they’re weird people, but nothing championed the weirdos more than Vine — and for that reason, we need it now more than ever.
