4. Not Demure
As Vine’s influence grew, the seeds of its destruction were being sown. Brands wanted in and things were getting competitive. While most creators experimented and responded organically to engagement, opportunistic newcomers saw Vine as something else: a system to game and they were willing to play dirty to win. Creators soon found themselves falling victim to rampant plagiarism — the digital world’s new 'Grand Theft Auto.'
Credits:
Benedict Townsend - Host & Creator
Mary Goodhart - Producer & Creator
Kevyah Cardoso - Narrative & Creative Producer
Patrick Lee - Sound Design & Score
Chris Janes - Mix
Lucy Chisholm Batten - Legal
Sophie Snelling - Executive Producer
Al Riddel - Head of Factual Podcasts
Vicky Etchells - Director of Podcasts
Archive Acknowledgments:
Tim & Dee TV/Haliey Welch
ABC News/‘Meet the Vine Stars Who Turn 6 Seconds of Fame into Big Bucks’
Jools Lebron
Brandon Moore
Kayla Newman
Marvel Studios/’Black Panther’/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Valo/’I'm Semi I Stay Automatic’
Nicholas Fraser/’Why You Always Lying?’
GOFRESH/YouTube/’Jerome jarre and nash grier (mobbed iceland)’
NBC News/The Today Show/’In wake of layoffs, is Twitter in trouble?’
Artwork acknowledgments:
Cathleen Dovolis
Brandon Moore
B Bowen
Nicholas Fraser
James Morosky
Ava Ryan
Vine: Six Seconds That Changed The World
This is the story of the social media app that changed the face of the internet before it crashed and burned in just three short years. Vine was the future - until it wasn’t. How did a platform so popular and beloved just disappear? Like any self-respecting chronically-online person, Benedict Townsend needed answers. In this 8-part series he tracks down Vine’s founders, social media power players and some of the most famous Vine creators to find out what really happened. What he found? A bizarre story of genius, chaos, and betrayal—and the blueprint for everything that came next. If you want to understand TikTok, or the modern internet itself, you need to understand Vine.
Contact us: [email protected]
- No. of episodes: 9
- Latest episode: 2025-05-06
- Society & Culture History
Where can you listen?
