After Vine shut down a few years ago, many former Vine users found themselves on TikTok. Since then, TikTok has become one of the most popular mobile social media platforms, but two of its competitors have now come together to challenge it.
Byte Joins the Clash Family
One of TikTok’s biggest competitors, Byte, has been purchased by another TikTok competitor called Clash. In a Medium post, Clash CEO Brendon McNerney announced that the two communities were coming together to “make a better world for creators.”
Shocked? You shouldn’t be. McNerney writes that he got his start on Vine, and Byte is meant to be Vine’s successor. Additionally, Vine was co-founded by Dom Hofmann, who is also leading the team behind Byte. It looks as though the two will be joining forces once more to compete with TikTok.
TikTok has become so popular that every social media platform seems to want to get in on short-form content. Reddit bought Dubsmash to do exactly that.
At present, both the Clash and Byte apps are still active. Clash, however, is temporarily unavailable for download in the App Store (presumably so that the Clash team can figure out how it will integrate Byte’s suite of creator tools).
If you already have Clash downloaded to your device, you can continue to use it without any problems.
The End of Vine and the Emergence of Clash and Byte
Twitter shut Vine in 2016 and while Vine did not disclose why the mobile app was being discontinued, The Verge reported a multitude of reasons. The app outgrew its scope, was unable to keep up with competition, and had trouble making money. It didn’t help that all of the co-founders either left or got laid off.
Mobile users started to look for a new platform. TikTok and Snapchat have arguably become the new homes for most former Vine users, but Clash and Byte also garnered some attention.
Clash released its beta to the App Store in July 2020, allowing users to create and share video loops that are up to 21 seconds long. Popular content in Clash is showcased on a public feed called Now Serving, and you can swipe up to scroll through an endless feed of new videos.
Then there’s Byte, which you can use to create and share six-second looping videos, similar to its its predecessor. You can add captions to your videos, but there are no text or video effects. Unlike Vine, it’s an independent platform and has a partner program to pay creators for their work.
Clash vs. TikTok: Which App Will Rule Short-Form Videos?
TikTok’s popularity is at an all-time high. Clash and Byte, meanwhile, have catered to smaller communities. Now that the two apps have combined forces, only time will tell if TikTok will remain the favored app for video loops.
After all, McNerney and Hofmann have been on top before, so who says they can’t do it again?!