Twitter is reportedly working on a Vine reboot

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Yesterday, Elon Musk asked his followers whether Twitter should reboot Vine — the short-lived TikTok predecessor.  The Internet responded with overwhelming enthusiasm. 

Vine holds a lot of affection in millennials’ hearts. It inspires feelings of nostalgia. But we were skeptical that Musk would follow through.

The Tesla CEO (and now “Chief Twit”) is notorious for shitposting. And more fundamentally, times have changed. 

READ MORE: How to mute Elon Musk on Twitter

Vine was novel upon its 2013 launch. Today, it faces a dizzying raft of competitors, not merely TikTok.

Although Vine pioneered short-form video content, other brands have appropriated the concept for their own purposes, typically in the form of ‘Stories.’

But it looks like our skepticism was unwarranted — or at the very least, premature.

According to Axios, Musk has instructed Twitter engineers to start work on a Vine reboot, with the first version expected to go live by the end of the year. 

“It needs a lot of work”

Axios claims work has already begun, with engineers looking through the original Vine codebase and seeing what can be repurposed and what needs to be overhauled or completely rewritten. 

One engineer said it: “Needs a lot of work.” With two months until the end of 2022, Twitter’s engineers face an uphill battle.

With Twitter pursuing an aggressive monetization strategy and layoffs looming, it’s unclear how much resources it can commit to launching a completely new product. 

READ MORE: How to download your tweets from Twitter

The original Vine codebase is unlikely to be of much use, either. It has lain untouched for almost six years. 

Software development is a fast-moving world — especially when you’re talking about mobile applications. A lot has changed since Twitter finally called time on Vine in 2017. 

I’m genuinely curious about how much original Vine code can be re-used and whether it’s practical. 

A Short Time Frame

When Elon Musk first mooted the idea of a Vine reboot, he asked what Twitter could do to make it “better than TikTok.” 

If Axios’ reporting is to be believed, Twitter’s engineers have little under two months to figure out the answer and bring it to market, disrupting one of the biggest players in the social media world. 

Good luck.

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