Early 2000s internet lovers commonly mourn the death of Vine, the beloved short-form video app. And Twitter founder Jack Dorsey just said killing it off is one of his "biggest regret."
In a Twitter thread Monday night, a user commented that Vine "used to sell hope." Twitter acquired the app, which let you share short video clips, in 2012.
"Every time I opened it I saw a capybara at Nagasaki Bio Park in a steaming Ofuro tub, and I smiled, because look at that little guy zen out!! I'm just going to sit over here and bang my Vine drum," the user tweeted.
Dorsey replied, "I know. Biggest regret," with a frowning emoji.
—jack⚡️ (@jack) April 19, 2022
Twitter shut Vine down in 2016 as the video platform struggled to keep its top creators employed. Vine's key stars began leaving for better benefits at competitors like Facebook and Google's YouTube.
Twitter was also grappling with poor user growth, and companies were reportedly looking to buy up the platform. Among them were Disney and Google.
The day Twitter announced it was shutting Vine down in late 2016, it also said it would lay off more than 300 workers, or 9% of the company's global workforce.
But Vine may have walked so TikTok could run, in a sense. The short video-sharing platform launched the same year that Vine was shuttered, spawning new content creators and becoming the epicenter of online pop culture.
Some internet users have made comparisons between the two apps, with many pointing out videos that have so-called "serious vine energy."
There is even a Discover tab on the TikTok app devoted to TikToks that "radiate vine energy."
