Has there ever been anything on the internet as universally adored as Vine? Maybe Baby Yoda comes close, but even he has his detractors. Since its premature shuttering in 2017, social media has mourned the loss of the video-sharing app, repeatedly canonising it through compilations of its deeply absurd but often surprisingly wholesome content, and desperately calling for its resurrection.
Now, like a phoenix from the ashes, Vine has risen once more. Or… has it?
Vine’s rebirth takes the form of a new app, called Byte. After much anticipation and several rounds of beta-testing, Byte was finally launched on January 25 — the creation of former Vine CEO Dom Hofmann. In a short statement posted to its Twitter, the company announced it would be “bringing back 6-second looping videos and a new community for people who love them”; they hope the app will “resonate with people who feel something’s been missing.” But how does it measure up to the original? So far, not so good.
Byte appears to have all the standard features of a social media platform, including user profiles, an updating feed, and an Explore page. However, the app is off to a rocky start, with many of its initial users reporting technical difficulties.
One user took to TikTok — a noted rival of Vine — to assess the damage: “There are a lot of problems. You can’t pause a video, like the comments just pop up” Ian (@ianisuglyy) explains, “You also can’t use any sounds, and it’s also kind of impossible to navigate right now.”
Unlike its predecessor, Byte doesn’t allow you to view other users’ follower counts, though, Ian reports, this apparently hasn’t stopped people from advertising them in their account bios.
However, the platform’s biggest challenge at present is its spam bots, which have effectively taken over comment sections on the app. In a statement on Twitter Hofmann says that tackling this is their “top priority”, going on to hint about some Instagram-esque developments to Byte in the future. “In the medium term, we’ll be making more dramatic changes to comments,” he wrote, “including a) the ability to like comments, and b) the abilities to block/filter/limit commenting.”
Hofmann has ensured there’s at least one thing that sets Byte apart from Vine — it will allow creators to take revenue from their content. In its heyday, many Vine creators crossed over to more sponsorship-friendly platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, so a move like this would preempt and prevent this problem. Hofmann told TechCrunch there would be “more details about exactly how the pilot program will work soon”.
Despite the changes, some feel as though Byte has missed a golden opportunity to reinvent the Vine formula, particularly the 6-second limit on videos. Perhaps TikTok has lengthened our attention spans. “I’d pay handsomely just to see two more seconds of ‘back at it again at Krispy Kreme,’” wrote one Twitter user. Honestly? So would we.
For now, unfortunately, all that’s available on Byte seems to be a deluge of derivative videos and a sad show of new users trying to recreate Vine’s glory days. “The content is just people trying really really hard to be like ‘pickle fart!’” summarises Ian, “Like, ‘banana boob!’ Like trying to make Vine humour happen again, but it’s just not working.” Yikes.
To give the platform some credit, it’s still early days! It’s only natural that it would take some time for Byte to find its feet in the Wild West of the interwebs. Let’s just wait and see.