Twitter to close Vine video app and cut 9% of global workforce

Vine, the six-second video app owned by Twitter, is being discontinued by the social network.

In a message on their website, Vine said “nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today”, but that in the coming months the app would cease to function. The video platform confirmed it would be leaving its website online so that users can continue to watch previous posts to the site, which has about 200 million users.

It was bought by Twitter shortly before its launch in 2013.

“To all the creators out there – thank you for taking a chance on this app back in the day, ” Vine said.

“To the many team members over the years who made this what it was – thank you for your contributions.

“What’s next? We’ll be working closely with creators to make sure your questions are answered and will work hard to do this the right way. We’ll be sharing more details on this blog and our Twitter account, and will notify you through the app when we start to change things.”

Access

Vine said users of the service would be notified before any changes to the app or website are made, but did not offer any further details on when the app would be shut down.

The service said it wanted to carry out the closure “in the right way” and that users would be able to access and download their Vines.

The news comes on the same day parent company Twitter announced losses of $83 million (€76 million) for its most recent financial quarter, and that the social media giant would be cutting 9 per cent of its global workforce – 347 jobs. Twitter employs about 200 people in Dublin.

Twitter already enables users to record videos in-app up to two minutes and 20 seconds in length, while it also supports live streaming and broadcasting through its Periscope service. – (PA)