Elon Musk has acquired Twitter for 44 billion dollars, taking the company private this week His plan is to take the company public again in a few years, however, its valuation must grow significantly up to that point.
In order to grow the value of Twitter, Musk should make video content and streaming, and interactive entertainment the focus of Twitter going forward. To make this happen, Vine could be resurrected and positioned as a competitor not only to Tiktok but to YouTube and Twitch, all in one app.
A decade ago the video social media app Vine was acquired by Twitter and became a sensation before being shut down in 2016. Twitter could not really find a way to make Vine profitable and was shut down. The app was really ahead of its time, and Video content would come to dominate all forms of media.
Competing with TikTok
Currently, TikTok is expected to have 755 million active users this year. Youtube has 2.1 billion active users, and Twitch has 140 million. In comparison, Twitter only has 238 million active users.
To compete with TikTok, Twitter can rely on the nostalgia of the original Vine app to draw in users. Concerns about national security and privacy have drawn TikTok into scrutiny, with lawmakers proposing to ban the app entirely in the US. A new version of Vine could be positioned to take on TikTok with its exact same features.
Most people in the 16-24 category still remember Vine and could be willing to make a return. At its height in 2015, Vine has over 200 million users.
TikTok is currently the most popular social media app, but the same was once said for Facebook and MySpace. Nothing lasts forever, and history has shown that TikTok may not enjoy the spotlight forever.
Competing with Twitch
In a new Vine app, competing with streaming giant Twitch is a must. Most people watch Twitch for gaming, and interactive entertainment is the largest and highest-grossing form of media in the world. Many twitch streamers have made their careers on the platform, however, many have become dissatisfied with how Twitch has treated streamers in recent months.
Recently, Twitch announced that it would cut streamers’ earnings. Previously, Twitch streamers enjoyed a 70-30 split on all revenue, however, starting in January 2023 those earnings will be split 50-50.
For twitch streamers wanting to make a move but can’t due to lack of competition, a new Vine app could potentially service those unhappy creators, offering better pay and services. Youtube streaming exists, but is not as flushed out and as usable as Twitch is. Facebook also has streaming, but who really uses Facebook to watch streamers?
Vine could also offer exclusive contracts to creators to grow the platform, even ones banned from Twitch like DrDisrespect, who was allegedly banned for trying to get more money from Twitch by leveraging an exclusivity offer from Mixer.
One of Elon Musk’s main goals is to protect free speech, in many ways gamers have complained about censorship on Twitch. Currently, words like “simp” “incel” and others are banned. Of course, violence and hate speech should continue to stay banned, but you cannot deny it is fun to call xQc a cuck in chat. Elon’s ‘free-speech’ crusade could convince him to compete with Twitch, which his rival Jeff Bezos owns.
Twitter could also be bold and acquire video game studios or launch a gaming/cloud subscription service, however, it must be cautious to do so as many technology companies who entered gaming failed in their ventures.
Competing with YouTube
TikTok is great for short videos and an algorithm that keeps you hooked for hours, and twitch is great for watching people live, but a reimagined Vine should also feature content in the middle.
Nobody goes to Twitch or TikTok to watch a documentary or a 30-minute history video. Competing with Youtube would be much harder than Twitch or TikTok since Youtube is so ingrained and its competitors are small and few.
People also watch Youtube for gaming clips, like competing with Twitch, a new Vine could offer contracts to top Youtube creators in order to bring them over to the new platform.
The Twitter acquisition is financed with 13 billion dollars in debt. To pay off that debt, Twitter must expand its product offering by expanding into the video space, growing its user base, and generating ad revenue across all platforms.
Elon Musk is currently sitting on an untouched gold mine. Vine has the potential to service hundreds of millions of users, bring in billions in revenue like Twitch, Youtube and TikTok do, and become the next big social media app, even bigger than Twitter itself.
Gaming content in particular is what draws a huge userbase to these apps, and focusing on it can help Twitter grow exponentially.
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