Twitter has announced that it is killing off Vine, the app that has enabled the creation of short-form videos that your younger relatives have grudgingly attempted to explain to you while you stand there, your old and saggy face slackening, saying, “I … don’t get it.” While Vine currently has around 200 million monthly users who will soon grind you into the dust, the company itself has apparently been hit hard: The Verge says that “significant layoffs” have been announced at Vine alongside a reported 9 percent in staff cuts at Twitter itself, which is part of Twitter’s efforts to simplify and refocus its operations on spreading hate throughout the world.
While Vine, the mobile app, will be discontinued “in the coming months,” the company made sort-of-clear in a statement posted to Medium.com that Vines themselves would be sticking around—at least for now:
Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today. We value you, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way. You’ll be able to access and download your Vines. We’ll be keeping the website online because we think it’s important to still be able to watch all the incredible Vines that have been made. You will be notified before we make any changes to the app or website.
Twitter acquired Vine in late 2012, before a single, incredible video of a guy getting hit in the nuts had ever been posted. And while it’s certainly easy to mock the way its six-second loops came to encapsulate an entire generation’s TL;DR mentality, it’s hard to deny the cultural impact its had, inspiring the push toward self-produced short-form video that soon infiltrated Instagram and SnapChat, and even producing “Vine stars” of its own. Countless Vine users like King Bach, Curtis Lepore, Nash Grier, and other names you’ve never heard of—and that makes you irrationally angry—have become genuine celebrities, thanks to their mastery of the Vine form. Hopefully they can find another outlet on the internet to do … whatever it is they do.