After short-form video platform Vine was acquired by Twitter in 2012 and later shut down in 2017, the app’s co-creator Dom Hofmann said it would be back with a follow-up app. Hofmann is back with a new app, Byte, which went live on Friday evening. The company announced in a Tweet that the six-second looping videos are back.
“Today we’re bringing back 6-second looping videos and a new community for people who love them. It’s called Byte and it’s both familiar and new. We hope it’ll resonate with people who feel something’s been missing.” Like Vine, users upload videos from their camera roll or use the Byte camera to capture content and put “creativity first.” However, this time around, Byte has a few changes. Firstly, it is taking better care of the creators on the platform. In the past, Vine creators didn’t feel like they were supported on the platform so they abandoned the platform for others on which they could monetise their content. Byte is rolling out a pilot version of a partner program, which will be used to pay creators and be a place to connect around creator-specific topics. Those on the program will be able to interact with and get feedback from other creators, have early access to certain features, and have a say in what new features should launch and how issues should be dealt with. Byte celebrates creativity and community, and compensating creators is one important way we can support both,” the company Tweeted. Currently, there isn’t a public follower count but they may add an option to show it on profiles in the future. Users can view their stats from their profile menu. 

Disrupting the viral video app market

Since Vine first launched the landscape has changed massively, with TikTok now dominating the short-form video space. Byte doesn’t have augmented reality filters, remixability, and other features that TikTok has but instead comes with a feed, explore page, profiles, and notifications, just like other apps. Many creators on apps like Snapchat and TikTok have tried to focus their efforts on YouTube as they can directly monetise their content. According to TechCrunch, former Vine stars turned TikTok stars are already on Byte. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Byte – have they missed the mark, do users want, or, in fact, need another video app, or will this open up a whole new wave of content creation? The app is now available to download on iOS and Android apps and is currently number one in the iOS app store.
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