Vine launches successor six-second video app Byte to take on rivals TikTok and Instagram – but finds it is plagued with profane comments and bots impersonating real users within three days of the release
- Vine co-founder releases app called ‘Byte’ that lets you post six-second videos
- Within three days of the launch, users noticed the app was riddled with spam
- Users were seeing profane comments and noticed there were a lot of bot
- The creator, Dom Hoffman, acknowledged the issues and is working to fix them
Vine’s successor, Byte, has only been live for about three days and is already plagued with spam.
The new app lets users post six second looping videos, but many have experienced profane comments and requests from bots impersonating real people.
Byte’s creator, Vine co-founder Dom Hoffman, released a statement that the firm is aware of the issues and is working to address them.
Vine took the world by storm in 2012, giving the average person a place to showcase their talents in six-second looping videos.
Users would subscribe to their favorite video creators and the clips would appear in a timeline in the app that could be scrolled through.
Twitter acquired Vine shortly after its release, but in October 2016, the social media firm announced the shutdown of the app.
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Vine’s successor, Byte, has only been live for about three days and is already plagued with spam. The new app lets users post six second looping videos, but many have experienced profane comments and requests from bots impersonating real people
However, two years later, Hoffman announced plans to Launch Byte.
‘Today we’re bringing back 6-second looping videos and a new community for people who love them,’ the firm shared in a tweet on Friday.
‘It’s called byte and it’s both familiar and new. We hope it’ll resonate with people who feel something’s been missing.’
Although excited for the revamped Vine app, many users have flocked to Twitter to share frustrations about it being riddled with spam.
One Twitter user, by the name of ‘owen’, shared: ‘Just posted a byte and literally within the first literal 3 seconds I had 3 bot comments and 13 likes how does this site…. work???’
Byte was created by Vine co-founder Dom Hoffman and seems very similar to the original design. Users can create six-second looping videos and upload them to the app for others to watch
While another users, ‘Dead Pirate Brandon’, noticed the bot problem after viewing the comments on a post.
All of the ‘users’ posted within seconds from each other and none of them had pictures.
However, Hoffman was quick to acknowledge the problem and posted on Byte’s community pages: ‘I wanted to post an update and make it clear that we’re aware of the issues with comment spam and more widely with certain types of comments.’
Although excited for the revamped Vine app, many users have flocked to Twitter to share frustrations about it being riddled with spam.
Hoffman was quick to acknowledge the problem reported by Twitter users like Jedith and posted on Byte’s community pages: ‘I wanted to post an update and make it clear that we’re aware of the issues with comment spam and more widely with certain types of comments’
‘This is our top priority and we’re working very hard to address it. It should be noticeably better than it was 24 hours ago and should continue to improve over the next little while,’ he wrote.
In the ‘medium term,’ Hoffman continued, the company will add the ability to like comments and the ability to block, filter and limit comments on posts.
Video moderation should be improved ‘very soon,’ he wrote.
Byte plans to put more of its focus on new features once the spam issues are resolve, which includes new discovery and creation features.
Byte is available for both iOS and Android users
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF VINE?
Vine was founded by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and Colin Kroll in June 2012 in Florida.
Before it had even launched officially, it was acquired by Twitter in October 2012 for a reported $30 million. It originated in Florida.
The service was founded in June 2012, and Twitter acquired it in October 2012, just before its official launch.
Vine officially launched on January 24, 2013 as a free app for iOS devices, with an Android version following on June 2, 2013.
Within months, Vine became the most used video sharing application in the market at the time, and On April 9, 2013, Vine became the most-downloaded free app within the iOS App Store.
