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 & CreatorMary Goodhart - Producer & CreatorKevyah Cardoso - Narrative & Creative ProducerPatrick Lee - Sound Design & ScoreChris Janes - MixLucy Chisholm Batten - LegalSophie Snelling - Executive ProducerAl Riddel - Head of Factual PodcastsVicky Etchells - Director of PodcastsArchive Acknowledgments:Tim & Dee TV/Haliey WelchABC News/‘Meet the Vine Stars Who Turn 6 Seconds of Fame into Big Bucks’Jools LebronBrandon MooreKayla NewmanMarvel Studios/’Black Panther’/Walt Disney Studios Motion PicturesValo/’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 DovolisBrandon Moore B BowenNicholas FraserJames MoroskyAva Ryan
Chapter 1: What is the significance of Vine in digital culture?
This is a Global Player Original Podcast. You know those addictive videos that follow a marble as it sets off an elaborate chain reaction? Well, this extended metaphor is about as hard to pull off as one of those. Stay with me now. If YouTube was the first domino that set the marble off, Vine was the perfectly timed slingshot propelling it forward. And Instagram?
The magnetized pulley lifting it higher. Then the marble perfectly landing in the bucket? That's TikTok. My point is, in the digital world, everything is connected and timing is everything. Every day, 34 million videos are posted on TikTok, so if you have a great idea that misses its off-ramp, tough luck, buddy.
Today's algorithms worship newness, meaning trends have the same lifespan as a housefly, and songs, sounds, and challenges become nauseating as quickly as they become catchy.
You see how I do my makeup for work? I know we've all moved on, but there's a reason to dredge that one back up again. Demure dominated our public lexicon in 2024, and it was very cutesy for a while. Very mindful, in fact.
Until it wasn't. The viral catchphrase made cashier-turned-content-creator Jules Lebrun an overnight sensation. Her TikTok following skyrocketed into the millions, earning her appearances on morning shows, late-night TV, but just two weeks after she started trending, two strangers had already submitted trademark applications for her phrase. Now, don't worry. Jules fought back. She won.
She cashed in. When J-Lo, the Kardashians, Maybelline, the White House, even NASA jumped on the trend, she was able to turn brand deals into life-changing income. And this isn't uncommon, but it's a cautionary tale. Remember Hoctour? Hoctour! How could you forget Hoctour? The US trademark database has over 30 applications for it, including one by the woman who actually said it. Not demure.
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Chapter 2: How did creators respond to trends on Vine?
And this messy business of viral ownership started on Vine. I'm Benedict Townsend, host of Scroll Deep, a show that's chronically online so you don't have to be. And this is Vine. Six seconds that changed the world. The biography of the little app that could and then didn't.
Of all of Vine's features, the app's greatest triumph, the democratization of content, the thing that allowed anyone to rise to the top spot, that's what made it a cultural force. While the origins of the most iconic Vines may be lost, forgotten to the sands of time, they still live on.
Today, TikTok's riffing on Vine energy and YouTube compilations of TikToks that taste like Vines are still bringing the greatest hits to a new generation. But the same thing Vine was celebrated for, that allowed people to go from complete obscurity to genuine stardom, may also have been the app's biggest blind spot.
You're not likely to know the name Brandon Moore, but you've very likely heard his iconic video.
Officer, I got one question for you.
In 2015, Brandon, who went by the creator name Busco, posted a video of a police officer in the act of arresting one of his friends. The officer looks up at the camera, and we're all expecting some kind of protest against the arrest to follow, but no. With a quick pan down, he zooms into the officer's clumpy black work shoes and exclaims, We're one of those!
What are those? What are those? Tell me that was not the most subversive thing you've ever seen, where it's like, oh, you might be an armed agent of the state who can shoot me and not have any consequences, but I can still roast your shoes in front of millions of people and millions of people are going to see it.
Bridget Todd is the creator and host of iHeartRadio's tech podcast, There Are No Girls on the Internet. Based out of Washington, D.C., she's also a former Vine addict.
I believe that the people who are making the most interesting, subversive, like the people who made Vines that became part of the cultural lexicon were Black folks. Like Peaches Monroe talking about her new eyebrows that were on fleek. That went on to define an entire generation, right? That went on to be used in all different kinds of campaigns. It stuck around, right? We in this bitch.
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Chapter 3: What does 'Not Demure' mean in the context of this episode?
So I think it was changed eventually, but at first you couldn't upload video into Vine. You had to film the video with Vine. So there was this implied spontaneity, this sort of implied magic where it's like, wow, I captured this six-second clip and it's crazy. I mean, a lot of it was like very typical for the era of viral video stuff. So it was just like funny moments.
It was people doing pranks or extreme behavior in public. It wasn't something you edited. It was just something you filmed. And a lot of the ones that went viral had like a very specific feel to them, which was like, oh, I managed to capture this like six seconds of incredible video content.
Another one that comes to mind is back at it again at Krispy Kreme. Back at it again at Krispy Kreme. Where it's the guy doing a backflip at Krispy Kreme and one of those massive neon Krispy Kreme circular lights is there. And obviously he's about to hit this light and it's definitely going to shatter. But the vine ends right before you hit it.
So you're left with a lot of questions, none of which are answered by the vine, but somehow you get the context. So I would say- Peak Vine energy is chaotic, but in a way that makes sense without a word of context or explanation.
That magical, ephemeral quality that's since been dubbed Vine energy. With more users than ever before and a place securely in the mainstream, Vine content hit its second wave. The evolution came in part alongside subtle design and interface changes, like the introduction of an upload function.
Now videos no longer had to be captured directly in the app, but could be created externally and then loaded in. This opened up a whole new world of creativity, don't get me wrong, but it also traded off a lot of the spontaneity that had made the app a success in the first place.
then once you could start to upload videos to vine the nature of what was going viral there changed a little bit it became a little more high concept and that's when you get like the real we now say like oh this tiktok has vine energy that's what we're talking about people who are doing sort of absurd skits weird art projects that are like really funny but in a really short way and it'll cut like right at the right moment i have
a million examples of this sort of thing. Describing them out loud always sounds like describing a dream. It doesn't really make a lot of sense. But there's one really good series that I loved, which was this guy, he's outside of his apartment. There's a woman up at the window on the second floor and he's like, toss me my keys. And then she throws a printer.
And the printer just smashes on the ground next to him. And he's like, I said my keys.
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Chapter 4: How did trademark issues affect viral creators?
Well, I got the call one day, I got a message off, I think it was Starbucks, who asked me, can I do a brand deal? And I was like, what the hell's a brand deal? I remember them saying, can we speak to your management? And I was thinking, what, William Hill? Because they were like, no, you've got like 250,000 followers, you must have a manager. I was like, no.
Aaron quickly got an agent and never looked back. And then they got in touch with Starbucks. And it was like a five grand deal. That was like winning the lottery. I swear, that was like literally winning the lottery. I was on... I remember we worked out my wages a few months back. We were speaking about me and Charlotte. Charlotte is Aaron's wife, by the way. I had £80 a month to live on.
After all the bills, after everything, we had £80 a month to live on. So five grand was like, what? And they wanted me to do these new videos with them. It was a free video deal. And we did it. And I'd love to go and look at their videos again because it was like, that was a start of everything for me. And I've got to thank Starbucks, yeah.
Was there a bit of a gear shift for you after that of like, oh, this could be something?
Yeah, that was it. That was it for me. Right, so what happened was, right, this is the truth. I made the decision to go part-time at work without Charlotte knowing. Because I thought, right, if I really want to do this, I've got to ramp it up. I've got to make 12 videos instead of six. I've got to go for it constant. So I went to three days a week at William Hill.
That lasted two days and I quit my job.
didn't tell Charlotte so I was getting changed at home into my work stuff I was leaving my house getting dressed in the bus stop and then doing my videos that lasted for two weeks because I had the money and then I had to come clean to her because I was getting caught by her being out in public and she was like well you're not at work I was like I'm just training or doing a training thing but I was normally in my normal clothes my dad's my mum kept catching me her mum and dad kept catching me and it was like
Had to come clean and said, look, I've quit my job, Charlotte, without you knowing. Obviously, it was meltdowns at the house, the mortgage, pay the mortgage, and, oh, my God, we've got a new baby. What are you doing? Get your job back now. But I put the five grand on the table, and I said, look, that's for us. She went, where the hell did you get the money from?
I was like, from doing this one video for a brand deal for Starbucks. I said, you've got to believe in me. Please, if not, I'll just get my job back. Never looked back. Nice.
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Chapter 6: How did Vine's democratization influence content creation?
If you're getting lots and lots of views, you're going to shoot up that popular page.
the minute the big players are making deals between themselves, we're no longer sharing it because it's like, oh, this is great. I just have to share it. Instead, we've made a deal. Yes. So I'll share with yours, you share with mine. And now suddenly, we are multiplying our number of followers. And it just means that the smaller guys don't stand a chance.
Yeah, because you're up against sort of a cartel of people with millions of followers. Exactly. Who are pushing those videos to everyone.
Yeah.
These days, of course, on TikTok and stuff like that, the very clever modern algorithms solve this problem. Because instead of just getting a raw feed of videos, they're slightly curating what you see so people can't dominate. But back then, Vine is basically uncurated. So you're just getting a nonstop shop.
Yeah.
of Logan Paul, etc. Then, of course, you have the additional twist, which is you have this popular page. That is the one thing that's sort of curated on Vine, which just tracks the most viewed videos. But again, if you and your mates, who all have millions of followers, are trading revines, you're going to just juice yourself to the top of that popular page and be there all the time.
How can anyone compete with that?
Yeah, it's a classic monopoly. You've got complete control of it at that point because the popular page means they're coming to you. And because they're coming to you, you're making the popular page.
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