Twitter acquired Vine in 2012 to obtain the short-video service.
Vine was founded in June 2012 by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll. Twitter acquired the company before the Vine mobile application launched publicly, bringing the service into its growing portfolio of social products. Vine officially launched in January 2013.
The app became known for looping six-second videos. Its strict time limit encouraged highly compressed comedy, music, visual effects and storytelling. Several creators who first became famous on Vine later built careers in film, television, music and online video.
Twitter discontinued Vine’s mobile application in October 2016, although the company initially preserved some of the website’s videos. The shutdown is often confused with Twitter’s later video initiatives, including Periscope and native video uploads. Vine’s influence continued through the broader popularity of short-form looping video, a format that became central to later social platforms.