Elon Musk has instructed Twitter engineers to work on a Vine reboot that could be ready by year end, multiple sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Twitter shuttered the looping-video app in 2016 after acquiring it four years earlier, leaving loyal Vine fans dismayed.
- Twitter reportedly tried to sell Vine shortly after.
Details: Twitter engineers already have been assigned to look at Vine's old code base, which hasn't been changed or updated since the shutdown.
- One source says "it needs a lot of work."
- Twitter has introduced new video features since 2016, but reviving Vine could give video creators a platform that sits somewhat apart from general Twitter discourse.
Between the lines: Musk is said to have discussed Vine in the months leading up to his Twitter acquisition, and on Sunday launched a Twitter poll asking if he should bring it back. Responses were running about 2-1 in favor, as of this writing.
- Popular YouTube star MrBeast tweeted in response, "If you did that and actually competed with tik tok that’d be hilarious," to which Musk replied, "What could we do to make it better than TikTok?"
- One big difference between TikTok and 2016-era Vine is that the former uses an algorithm to serve up videos, whereas Vine relied on a user's social follows.
The big picture: The Vine reboot is one of several sweeping changes Musk is considering just days after buying Twitter for $44 billion, including new options for user verification.
