Twitter has a new feature for mourning Vine fans
As of today, Vine is dead.
We knew it was coming, as Vine's parent company (and executioner) Twitter announced the shutdown earlier this month and detailed the standalone platform's transition to a "paired-down" app, Vine Camera, last year.
But rather than going gently into the good night, Vine's repetitive viewer experience will live on as Twitter will now automatically loop video content under 6.5 seconds.
SEE ALSO: Tech we lost: RIP Vine, Meerkat and the headphone jack
TechCrunch first noticed the new functionality, noting that it extends to all video content uploaded to Twitter, even from other platforms like Snapchat. It shouldn't come as a big surprise, though — a series of FAQs Vine released to ease users into its new age teased the feature.
You can see the new automatic looping in action here via a Twitter video of my colleague Raymond Wong stalking the halls of Mashable HQ.
What's @raywongy doing? V suspicious if you ask me. pic.twitter.com/C8LksU2cz7
— Brett Williams (@bdwilliams910) January 17, 2017
While this won't save Vine — the social networking of the standalone app is no more, and the massive collection of loops amassed since 2013 will be archived for viewing only at Vine.co — it gives everyone who loves watching bite-sized chunks of fun a reminder of fonder days.
What do we call these new videos? Twitter loops?
After I caught up to Raymond in the hallway, we mourned the passing of Vine and discussed how looping video might live on — and we settled on a new name. They might not catch on like Vines, but we think that Twines (Twitter + Vine = Twine) are a fitting tribute to the most fleeting social network of the aughts.
