RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Twitter announced yesterday that it will be closing Vine, its video sharing app. Like Twitter, Vine focused on brevity. Videos could only be six seconds long.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
But users figured out how to use those six seconds to maximum effect. Sometimes, there were jokes, most of them visual gags that don't really translate to the radio, though. Singer Shawn Mendes launched his career doing six-second covers of songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHAWN MENDES PERFORMANCE OF SAM SMITH SONG, "STAY WITH ME")
SHAWN MENDES: (Singing) Guess it's true I'm not good at a one-night stand, yeah.
MONTAGNE: Six seconds. Vine wasn't just about teens goofing off, though, or trying to get famous. Protesters in Ferguson, Mo., used Vine to document clashes with police.
(SOUNDBITE OF VINE VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Crosstalk, yelling).
MONTAGNE: The medium allowed the video to be widely shared in a way few other services at the time could match.
GREENE: But, in the end, Vine could not keep up with the competition. While the app will be discontinued, the company says it will keep the videos online, gems like this one of a toddler opening an unusual present on Christmas morning.
(SOUNDBITE OF VINE VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It's a avocado. Thanks.
MONTAGNE: (Laughter) That vine has nearly 117 million views - and counting. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.