1. Who Killed Vine?

About this episode

This episode explores the rise and fall of Vine, a platform that revolutionized short video content but was shut down just three years after its launch.

Launched in 2013 after an early buyout by Twitter, Vine quickly grew into one of the fastest growing platforms on the internet. The app created an entirely new category of online content: short, user-generated videos. It became the home of online creativity, birthed beloved memes and viral trends, and introduced a whole new generation of celebrity: the influencer. So, how did an app that was ten steps ahead die only three years after launch? Credits: Benedict Townsend - Host & Creator Mary Goodhart - Producer & Creator Kevyah Cardoso - Narrative & Creative Producer Patrick Lee - Sound Design & Score Chris Janes - Mix Lucy Chisholm Batten - Legal Sophie Snelling - Executive Producer Al Riddel - Head of Factual Podcasts Vicky Etchells - Director of Podcasts Archive acknowledgments: CBS Sunday Morning/'From 2005: Four young internet entrepreneurs'/CBS News Jawed Karim/‘Me at the zoo’/YouTube Channel 4 News Theme/‘Best Endeavours’/Alan Hawkshaw Channel 4 News/’A year of Vine: the six second videos rivalling Twitter and Instagram’ The Fox News Channel Theme/‘The Five’ FOX 5/’CEO Chris Dessi Discusses Vine on Fox 5’/Brayden Shanks/The Fox News Channel…

People in this episode

Host: Benedict Townsend

Topics covered

• Vine
• social media
• influencers
• online content
• technology
• viral trends

Keywords

• Vine
• Twitter
• influencers
• short videos
• social media
• viral trends
• online creativity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Twitter, CBS News, YouTube, The Fox News Channel, Sky News

Books & works: Me at the zoo, A year of Vine: the six second videos rivalling Twitter and Instagram, Breaking: Twitter Officially Shutting Down Vine, TikTok to be banned in the US from Sunday, Supreme Court rules, Donald Trump’s inauguration

More episodes of Vine: Six Seconds That Changed The World

• Introducing: Explosive Lies · January 31, 2026 · 3 min
• Did We Bring Back Vine? · January 16, 2026 · 34 min
• 8. Famous · May 7, 2025 · 30 min
• 7. The Battle of Vine Street · May 7, 2025 · 42 min
• 6. VIVs (Very Important Viners) · April 30, 2025 · 37 min
• 5. Do It For The Vine · April 30, 2025 · 40 min