Benedict Townsend

Oh, here we go.

Oh, here we go.

Certainly Vine understood that this beast needed to evolve to keep up with the times. It's just that some of the ideas they had to do that seemed incredibly strange. Of course, it wasn't just Karen's new creative department that was making radical changes to try and turn the app's fortune around.

Certainly Vine understood that this beast needed to evolve to keep up with the times. It's just that some of the ideas they had to do that seemed incredibly strange. Of course, it wasn't just Karen's new creative department that was making radical changes to try and turn the app's fortune around.

Vine's iconically stripped-back interface, its revolutionary design choices, they've been groundbreaking back in 2013 when it launched. They gave Vine such a massive head start on mobile video, but in just two short years, it had become a very crowded space, and those features were no longer so original. In fact, they've been replicated and often improved upon.

Vine's iconically stripped-back interface, its revolutionary design choices, they've been groundbreaking back in 2013 when it launched. They gave Vine such a massive head start on mobile video, but in just two short years, it had become a very crowded space, and those features were no longer so original. In fact, they've been replicated and often improved upon.

By this point, we had video on Instagram and on Facebook and an insurgent new app called Snapchat. It'll never last. And a whole new style of ultra-quick posts called Stories. And on top of all of this, YouTube, the original online video giant, was courting creators like crazy, dangling its healthy ad-based monetization in front of them like a golden-crusted carrot.

By this point, we had video on Instagram and on Facebook and an insurgent new app called Snapchat. It'll never last. And a whole new style of ultra-quick posts called Stories. And on top of all of this, YouTube, the original online video giant, was courting creators like crazy, dangling its healthy ad-based monetization in front of them like a golden-crusted carrot.

Vine had to innovate or it was going to get left behind. And Rich Arnold was leading the major design overhauls. The first, and it actually feels painful to say this, was losing the six second limit.

Vine had to innovate or it was going to get left behind. And Rich Arnold was leading the major design overhauls. The first, and it actually feels painful to say this, was losing the six second limit.

The idea of extending the time limit was something that had already been discussed before. Creators were frequently complaining that their scope for innovation was limited by videos being so short. And perhaps more importantly for some, it also limited monetization opportunities. It's tricky to fit adverts into six seconds.

The idea of extending the time limit was something that had already been discussed before. Creators were frequently complaining that their scope for innovation was limited by videos being so short. And perhaps more importantly for some, it also limited monetization opportunities. It's tricky to fit adverts into six seconds.

But Rich says there was a deep suspicion at Vine around the idea of making clips substantially longer.

But Rich says there was a deep suspicion at Vine around the idea of making clips substantially longer.

Of course, eventually they did extend the core length of Vines from six seconds to the incredibly obvious 140 seconds.

Of course, eventually they did extend the core length of Vines from six seconds to the incredibly obvious 140 seconds.

Sorry, can we just drill down on the fact that they changed the iconic six seconds to 140 seconds purely because a tweet has 140 characters. 2.3333 minutes. Perfect. Oh, nailed it. The most bizarre arbitrary decision in the history of decisions.

Sorry, can we just drill down on the fact that they changed the iconic six seconds to 140 seconds purely because a tweet has 140 characters. 2.3333 minutes. Perfect. Oh, nailed it. The most bizarre arbitrary decision in the history of decisions.

We spent five weeks studying exactly what a second is.

We spent five weeks studying exactly what a second is.