Byte
- Byte, a new video-sharing app being produced by one of the co-creators of Vine, begins beta testing for 100 users on Tuesday.
- Founder Dom Hofmann first announced his new venture to followers on Twitter in November. On Monday, he said that Byte’s beta testing would feel similar to the beta testing done for the Vine app. This would change as the app expands, he said.
- Vine was a massively popular video service, which was acquired by Twitter in 2012. Twitter shut it down four years later after it struggled to find a way to make money from it.
- Since then, Chinese video-sharing app TikTok has sprung up and achieved explosive success.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The co-creator of wildly popular video-sharing app Vine is back with a new venture, Byte, and it’s just opened for beta testing.
The app, which was first announced in November by Dom Hofmann, a co-creator of Vine, begins beta testing on Tuesday; 100 followers will be sent invites to participate. Techcrunch was first to report the news.
Read more: TikTok was bigger than Instagram last year after passing the 1 billion download mark
Hofmann has kept the details of his new app to a minimum. The app has a similar premise to Vine, however, allowing users to record or upload short, looped videos.
Hofman tweeted on Monday that Byte’s beta testing is likely to feel similar to Vine’s former friends and family beta testing. However, the Byte app will change as it grows, he said.
Hofman did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Hofman was previously involved with Vine, a popular short-form video app that let users create and share six-second videos that looped infinitely. In its heyday, Vine attracted over 200 million active users. Twitter acquired the service in 2012, but shut the app down in 2016 because it struggled to find a way to make money from it.
Things have moved on since Vine, and Byte will have to go up against a well-funded Chinese rival. TikTok, another popular video looping service, has launched and is achieving explosive and global success. The service is owned by Chinese tech company Bytedance, which was recently valued at $75 billion.
TikTok was the fourth most-downloaded non-game app in 2018, according to app analytics site Sensor Tower, behind WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook.
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)