Will People Still Be Able To See Vines?

Sad news out of the tech world: Vine will soon be a thing of the past. On Thursday, Oct. 27, Twitter announced in a post on Medium that they would be “discontinuing the mobile app” in the coming months. So can people still see Vines after the site goes down? According to the press release, your precious Vines are safe — for now.

Since Vine's launch in early 2013, the six-second video loops have been enjoyed and shared across social media. Vines can range from the trippy, to the musical and the humorous, to the political and supremely annoying. By harnessing the power of the gif format, Vines were able to emphasize through repetition a passing moment in time or a really good joke and turn it into something special. They will be missed. For those with a soft spot in their heart for Vines, there will be no discernible changes to the service presently. "Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today," Twitter states. "We value you, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way."

Users will still be able to log on to the website and access all their previously made Vines. So do yourself a favor and take a minute to zone out to this relaxing Vine:

Twitter will be shutting down the video app slowly, notifying users before making any sudden changes. Despite this kind promise, now seems like a pretty good time to download any favorite clips that you might want to hold onto for posterity. Here is an excellent list of some of the top Vine creators over the past three years, and the clips that have brought them success on the phone screen (and beyond).

The demise of Vine comes on the heels of Twitter's announcement of mass layoffs early Thursday. Despite showing some financial improvements at the end of their third quarter, 9 percent of Twitter's 3,910 employees —approximately 350 people— will be getting the boot. There is no word yet on how Vine's staff will be affected. "Job cuts will focus primarily on reorganizing its sales, partnerships and marketing operations," Variety reports.

Sadly, Vine never met the high expectations Twitter (who purchased the app in 2012 before it's official launch) had for the company as the perfect video pairing for the 140 character text medium. Its demise is a consequence of Twitter's overhaul, and slow growth in the face of competition (Instagram cough cough).

While the video service may now be singing it's very short swan song, don't feel bad for Vine. I hear the six-second video format will get seven seconds in heaven.

Images: pixabay, Vine/Twitter, AndrewLara/Twitter