Benedict Townsend

Do you think it's almost a case of Vine not taking advantage of its relationship with Twitter rather than Twitter spurning Vine? Or do you think it was a sort of mutually frosty relationship?

Do you think it's almost a case of Vine not taking advantage of its relationship with Twitter rather than Twitter spurning Vine? Or do you think it was a sort of mutually frosty relationship?

According to Karen, this tense dynamic had roots all the way back to day one.

According to Karen, this tense dynamic had roots all the way back to day one.

Were you surprised that they allowed you to sort of just do your own thing and not be messed with?

Were you surprised that they allowed you to sort of just do your own thing and not be messed with?

Do you think in hindsight, maybe if Vine had been more directly integrated from the beginning, things might have gone smoothly in the long run? No. Why not?

Do you think in hindsight, maybe if Vine had been more directly integrated from the beginning, things might have gone smoothly in the long run? No. Why not?

Well, that's the weird thing. You might think, oh, everyone's jumping ship to Instagram. It must be so much better. They must have cracked the code. But they hadn't. Instagram video was clunky. It was limited. To be honest, it kind of still is. Plus, like Vine at that time, there wasn't really any proper monetization.

Well, that's the weird thing. You might think, oh, everyone's jumping ship to Instagram. It must be so much better. They must have cracked the code. But they hadn't. Instagram video was clunky. It was limited. To be honest, it kind of still is. Plus, like Vine at that time, there wasn't really any proper monetization.

Well, there's a couple of reasons. I mean, the first one is just, I think, plain frustration. Like Vine wasn't evolving. It wasn't iterating. In our present day, look at TikTok. TikTok's got a new feature every 15 minutes. TikTok is always evolving. Vine was always the same. And when nothing changes, you know, people just get bored. They just look elsewhere.

Well, there's a couple of reasons. I mean, the first one is just, I think, plain frustration. Like Vine wasn't evolving. It wasn't iterating. In our present day, look at TikTok. TikTok's got a new feature every 15 minutes. TikTok is always evolving. Vine was always the same. And when nothing changes, you know, people just get bored. They just look elsewhere.

And then the second reason, I think, is just simplicity. The average user doesn't want multiple apps. If you say to them, hey, you can have one app that kind of just does everything, you know, in your busy day, that's quite a nice promise to users. And that's what Instagram was really trying to do. They were like, why leave Instagram and go and watch video elsewhere?

And then the second reason, I think, is just simplicity. The average user doesn't want multiple apps. If you say to them, hey, you can have one app that kind of just does everything, you know, in your busy day, that's quite a nice promise to users. And that's what Instagram was really trying to do. They were like, why leave Instagram and go and watch video elsewhere?

You can just do it all in Instagram.

You can just do it all in Instagram.

Absolutely. But when you are a giant platform like Instagram, you can, shall we say, lovingly take some of that simplicity and that originality from someone else and make it your own. I mean, people forget now, but Stories was a signature Snapchat feature. That was Snapchat's thing was that you could post a story. Instagram nicked that. And now we basically only associate Stories with Instagram.

Absolutely. But when you are a giant platform like Instagram, you can, shall we say, lovingly take some of that simplicity and that originality from someone else and make it your own. I mean, people forget now, but Stories was a signature Snapchat feature. That was Snapchat's thing was that you could post a story. Instagram nicked that. And now we basically only associate Stories with Instagram.

Now, that doesn't kill Snapchat because often the borrowed thing is not quite as good as the original. But you're going to siphon off enough users that it's meaningful to do that.

Now, that doesn't kill Snapchat because often the borrowed thing is not quite as good as the original. But you're going to siphon off enough users that it's meaningful to do that.