does the Vine app tell you anything else? Twitter bought the video service in 2012 and brought it to the smartphone as an app in 2013. However, the plug was pulled in autumn 2016. Vine had looped clips up to six seconds long. The app was seen as a trendsetter and a field of experimentation for creatives (here we present ten particularly successful Vine clips). Short videos were hip on Vine even before TikTok existed. But when TikTok, or its sister app Douyin designed for China, went live, Twitter Vine shut down.
Now, in times of corona and trade war, TikTok is the most exciting short video app on the planet right now. Unlike Vine, she has made the leap from the nerd niche into the mainstream. But things are looking bad for the app from the Chinese company ByteDance in the USA. With the Trump administration branding TikTok as a national security threat, TikTok faces a choice between selling its US business to a US company or risking a ban. By mid-September at the latest, it should be clear how things will go on with TikTok - or not.
Microsoft seems to have the best chances of taking over parts of the video app. The company's cash register is well filled, it is also active in China, and Donald Trump could well live with a Microsoft deal according to his own statements. At the weekend, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that Twitter had also put out its feelers for TikTok's US business. This has not been officially confirmed, but there was also no denial. Apple had made it clear a few days earlier after similar rumors that it was not interested in TikTok.
For Twitter, TikTok would be a new lever after the Vine-Off to return to the increasingly attractive business with short entertainment clips in terms of advertising. Twitter also has a live streaming app called Periscope on the market, videos can be uploaded to the short message service, but you will primarily encounter videos there about news events. TikTok, on the other hand, mainly offers timeless clips. For advertisers, the platform, which presents itself as apolitical, is more interesting with its focus on entertainment.
The "Wall Street Journal" writes that Twitter sees it as an advantage that, unlike Microsoft, it is not one of the major US tech companies, ie not a "Big Five" group alongside Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon. With a view to antitrust law, a TikTok deal with Twitter could be relatively straightforward.
However, Microsoft's power in the field of social media is so far manageable. In addition, Twitter's financial situation: the company would need a lot of financial support from US partners to even be able to afford such a deal. Microsoft's poker for TikTok last stood at 10 to 30 billion dollars. For Vine, at the time only a small start-up, Twitter is said to have paid just 30 million dollars in 2012.
The argument that Twitter is Donald Trump's favorite service is unlikely to play a major role in the political squabble over TikTok, which ByteDance still wants to defend against legally: In any case, Trump and Twitter had clashed more often recently when it came to questionable tweets from the president and his campaign team left. Compared to 2016, a lot has changed, not just in the area of short videos.
Deal of the week: "Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout"
"Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout": 60 characters, a crown as a target
Photo: Devolver Digital"Mario Party" crossed with the TV classic "Takeshi's Castle", in a colorful Battle Royale case à la "Fortnite": The developer studio Mediatonic has released a brightly colored online game with "Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout", in which up to 60 players compete for a virtual crown. Alone or at the same time with up to three teammates, you have to survive several elimination games, then it goes to the grand finale. If you have a Playstation Plus subscription, you can even get the game at no additional cost.
"Fall Guys" is child and beginner-friendly and extremely funny, regardless of whether you play along or just watch. Even an early exit is less frustrating than in a more seriously staged struggle for survival. For the ideal pastime, the game lacks a crossplay function, with which PC and Playstation players can compete. A training arena, a split-screen option and a few more convenience options would also be desirable. At the start, "Fall Guys" only offers the bare essentials - its online competition.
From Mediatonic / Devolver Digital, 19.99 euros, on Playstation 4, "Fall Guys" can be installed free of charge for Playstation Plus subscribers until the beginning of September: PC (Steam) , Playstation 4 .
External links: three tips from other media
"Is QAnon the Most Dangerous Conspiracy Theory of the 21st Century?" (English, five minutes to read)
Why does the QAnon conspiracy tale have so many followers? There are interesting explanations for this. In his latest SPIEGEL column, Sascha Lobo referred to the "Ikea effect"; the head of the games company Six to Start compares the appeal of QAnon in the "New York Times" with that of augmented reality games.
"It can be over that quickly" (five minutes to read)
Some social media stars are only big numbers on one platform at a time - they could be hit hard if the app in question is no longer available . "It doesn't matter how many million followers you have on TikTok if the app is no longer available overnight," writes Eike Kühl at "Zeit Online" about the phenomenon.
"Apple refuses to allow major gaming apps from Microsoft, Google, and Facebook onto the App Store, and the fight just went public" (English, four minutes to read)
Game streaming services and flat rates are becoming more and more important when trying to get them on iPhones and bring iPads, companies like Google and Microsoft clash with Apple. Ben Gilbert explains why at "Business Insider".
I wish you a nice week
Markus Böhm
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