Vine’s preservation efforts are well and truly underway in the wake of its demise earlier this week. On Friday, the Twitter-owned platform announced that it’s transforming its website into a Vine Archive.
Revisiting the site is like taking a nostalgic journey through the previous four years of internet culture. From memes to viral dance crazes, it’s all preserved in what Vine describes as a digital “time capsule.”
The site itself is split into three curated sections (the home page, community, and Vines). Just like the new-look Vine Camera app, the move sees Twitter do away with community features — such as followers, re-vines, likes, comments and new loop counts — to focus purely on the content itself. However, the site does allow you to share Vines on other social media and across the web using their unique URLs. It’s a wise move on Twitter’s part that allows the site’s timeless memes to live on forever in the digital space.
The best thing about the Vine Archive is that it offers both an entry point for newcomers and a deep-dive into the weird and wonderful world of viral video. The home page acts as a great introduction to the brief (albeit active) history of Vine, allowing you to access curated content from a particular year, channel (animals, art, comedy, and weird, among others), view editors’ picks, or watch playlists dedicated to specific trends.
If you want to dig a little deeper, you can venture down the rabbit hole in the “community” section. Here you’ll find a search bar, and the most popular clips from different categories, along with Creator Spotlights that highlight the now-defunct app’s biggest users — some of who (King Bach, Lele Pons, and Nash Grier) have since become social media stars in their own right. The Vines section of the website once again lets you access specific channels, or watch more curated moments.
Unfortunately, former users can no longer download their creations as the cut-off date has already passed. Twitter also notes on its FAQ that although existing users can login to the site, profile information can no longer be altered. Therefore, the only remaining options you have in regards to your public-facing data is to either delete the Vines you previously posted or delete your account. You can find out more details here.