Karen Spencer

But in early days, I mean, it was just nothing but eye rolls in San Francisco. And like, oh, my God, who are these people on social media? And why are they getting paid $100,000 for a six second ad? And, you know, there was I very rarely ever heard someone supportive of it and not critical of it.

But in early days, I mean, it was just nothing but eye rolls in San Francisco. And like, oh, my God, who are these people on social media? And why are they getting paid $100,000 for a six second ad? And, you know, there was I very rarely ever heard someone supportive of it and not critical of it.

I heard that Vine was looking for a head of creators, and I went and interviewed with them. I was not really a user of Vine at that time. I was definitely hiring and working with Vine stars, so I was aware of it, but I didn't have that daily habit of being a Vine consumer. So I had to kind of like quickly get up to speed on that.

I heard that Vine was looking for a head of creators, and I went and interviewed with them. I was not really a user of Vine at that time. I was definitely hiring and working with Vine stars, so I was aware of it, but I didn't have that daily habit of being a Vine consumer. So I had to kind of like quickly get up to speed on that.

And Twitter had a policy at the time that you'd be interviewed by like eight different people. And if you didn't get an enthusiastic yes and a thumbs up from everyone, then you wouldn't be hired. If even one person had a reservation, you wouldn't be hired. So I thought, okay. It's never in my life have I had a group of eight people all enthusiastically like me. So this is not going to happen.

And Twitter had a policy at the time that you'd be interviewed by like eight different people. And if you didn't get an enthusiastic yes and a thumbs up from everyone, then you wouldn't be hired. If even one person had a reservation, you wouldn't be hired. So I thought, okay. It's never in my life have I had a group of eight people all enthusiastically like me. So this is not going to happen.

And I guess maybe because I just didn't even think it was possible. I didn't really go into the interviews with much fear or nervousness. And I was shortly hired thereafter. Wow.

And I guess maybe because I just didn't even think it was possible. I didn't really go into the interviews with much fear or nervousness. And I was shortly hired thereafter. Wow.

Yes. The founders of Vine did not believe in social media influencers. When Vine stars started becoming a thing, they were very resistant to it. And before I arrived at the company, there was a mandate that went out from them that no one was to talk to Vine stars.

Yes. The founders of Vine did not believe in social media influencers. When Vine stars started becoming a thing, they were very resistant to it. And before I arrived at the company, there was a mandate that went out from them that no one was to talk to Vine stars.

They wanted it to be democratized. And as soon as it became clear that there was going to be this sort of like high school situation where there were popular creators and mid-level creators and all of that stuff was like disgusting to them. These were grown men. They didn't make an app for teenage humor content. They made an app for... wanting it to be the sharing of art and ideas.

They wanted it to be democratized. And as soon as it became clear that there was going to be this sort of like high school situation where there were popular creators and mid-level creators and all of that stuff was like disgusting to them. These were grown men. They didn't make an app for teenage humor content. They made an app for... wanting it to be the sharing of art and ideas.

And as soon as it turned into something that they didn't foresee, I think they were unhappy about it and continued to try and make moves to head it in the direction that they had seen it going in, which, you know, is just impossible. You can't dictate the tides to the ocean. You can develop your product with a vision for what it's going to be.

And as soon as it turned into something that they didn't foresee, I think they were unhappy about it and continued to try and make moves to head it in the direction that they had seen it going in, which, you know, is just impossible. You can't dictate the tides to the ocean. You can develop your product with a vision for what it's going to be.

But as soon as that product gets in the hand of audiences, you no longer have the power or control to tell people how to use it.

But as soon as that product gets in the hand of audiences, you no longer have the power or control to tell people how to use it.

Like, I mean, the Vine skeet wording content creation community was amazing. The art community was insane. just really niche, small followed, but highly talented content producers. And so there was this vibe internally, again, kind of like talking about how a product comes to life, but then the people behind the product want it to be something else.

Like, I mean, the Vine skeet wording content creation community was amazing. The art community was insane. just really niche, small followed, but highly talented content producers. And so there was this vibe internally, again, kind of like talking about how a product comes to life, but then the people behind the product want it to be something else.

Vine was continually moving more and more in the direction of like lowbrow, not politically correct humor targeted for let's say 15 year olds, right? And then all of the quite serious intellectual and artistic employees of Vine, they didn't want the company that they worked for to be that.

Vine was continually moving more and more in the direction of like lowbrow, not politically correct humor targeted for let's say 15 year olds, right? And then all of the quite serious intellectual and artistic employees of Vine, they didn't want the company that they worked for to be that.