It was recently announced that Twitter was shutting down Vine, its short video sharing service that has made a few comedians famous.
However, Twitter has decided that they may actually be selling the site instead.
Originally, ten sites were interested in retaining the service, though now Twitter has widdled it down to five potential buyers who may be able to take care of the site and help it continue to grow.
The renewed interest in the app may have actually come from the announcement that Twitter was shutting it down. Once the news reached the public, users mourned the closing of the service by compiling some of their favorite clips from some of their favorite Vine stars.
Because of this, traffic for the app grew immensely, meaning that interest has also grown leading potential buyers to believe that perhaps the app isn’t a lost cause after all.
The app was purchased by Twitter for $30 million after developers created it and planned to release it. They are in talks to sell the app for around $10 million, which is reportedly what operating costs of Vine are each month. Because of this, it is likely that the app may never actually sell and the renewed interest is simply fleeting.
A spokesperson for App Advice states why Vine hasn’t become as popular as it could have:
“Vine was expected to do for videos what Instagram had done for photos. Unfortunately, what actually happened is that Instagram added videos to its popular service, giving users little reason to make a switch.”
Twitter has also recently been losing money due to a lower volume of users on their site, which is likely what prompted the decision to get rid of the app altogether. As it just sat costing them money, it was better for them to cut their losses and move on.
Evidently, the company lost more than $500 million last year, which is an unprecedented loss for Twitter.
No matter what happens, however, Vine users will still be able to visit archives and watch their favorite loops as much as they want–they just won’t be able to create new ones.
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