Opinion: In defense of Vine

Gabby Seed

Saddening news came last Thursday when Twitter announced that it would discontinue its popular app — Vine — in which users could create and watch homemade, six-second videos. Although many were not surprised by this loss, I was not alone in finding myself strangely grieving for what some might see as just another media outlet for young adults.

But was it? Vine stood apart from YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat and the other social medias. A typical six-second Vine was generally humorous in nature, had the capacity to easily create a meme, and was created by an “average” person. Vine celebrities emerged with their own brands of humor unlikely to be touted elsewhere. it was a place for the everyday clown to create a character of himself or herself, amass a following and test out mini jokes.

Given the time limit of Vines, no joke ever seemed to go too far. Six seconds wasn’t enough time for a joke to get boring or drawn out, but it was the perfect amount of time for viewers to latch onto and memorize snippets.

Catchphrases like “Is that a weed?” “Do you got a ‘bae’, or nah?” and “Get out me car” have stuck with millennials and turned into well-loved, well-worn memes.

Despite the fact that few people seem to inherently dislike Vine, not many actually had accounts. Vines turn up on other social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter all the time, making it seem like there was no real need for the standalone app itself. If you could see the best, most popular Vines of the day filtered out and available to you through another source, why go through the hassle of getting your own account?

As for me, I have my reasons. Personally, I could not have been more thrilled to have an app almost solely devoted to humor. I have a Tumblr, and I certainly love how meme-savvy the site is. But it also tends to be pretty heavy on emotional discussion, — something we all need to escape from every once in a while.

On Vine, I liked to watch the short videos right before going to sleep. What better way to end the day than by laughing at lighthearted, easy to digest, nonpolitical video clips? With the Vine app, there was no sorting through posts from your conservative uncle to get to the good stuff.

Vine was hilarious, topical, relatable and quotable. It didn’t serve a higher purpose like social media sometimes does, but it served a purpose entirely of its own that I would argue was equally important. To put it simply, Vine unified everyday comedy. Without it, I suppose we’ll be back to the more vapid, nauseating media that is more of a filtering process than an enjoyable experience.

Maybe it will make a comeback or be replaced by a similar app; Until then, I’ll keep a tight grip on some of the best memes since Pepe the Frog.

Gabby Seed is a columnist, contact her at [email protected].