Let's not forget the black Vine stars that turned the app into an art
Black Vine stars altered the way the world sees and speaks.
They created iconic videos, changed our language, influenced advertising campaigns and much more.
The volume of creativity itself became something of an icon, but that volume was shut off on Thursday as Twitter announced the end of the short-form video app.
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But it's not enough to mourn Vine's end without paying tribute to the black stars that turned it into an "art form."
This is probably obvious to many black Vine users who consider themselves a part of that community, but how many outside of that niche know where "on fleek" came from?
That Vine has 48 million loops as of this writing. The one below has 70 million loops. You've probably heard of it.
In 2015, Hannah Giorgis wrote in an article for The Guardian that "black users utilize Vine in hilarious, multi-faceted, complex and game-changing ways," and were able to influence conversations far beyond Vine because those videos were easily shared on other social media.
"Black Viners have birthed countless memes and accompanying sociolinguistic phenomena," she wrote.
The three examples she listed off the bat included "or nah."
"Hoe don't do it."
And "do it for the Vine."
Now that Vine-to-lexicon pipeline is gone.
Which is not to say Vine's relationship with its black users was at all perfect.
Writing in The Fader in December of last year, Doreen St. Felix laid out how black teenagers used Vine to birth some of the most popular elements of the internet and American culture in general, yet often received little benefit.
Kayla Newman, the Vine star behind "on fleek," told St. Felix she hadn't "gotten any endorsements or received any payment," for introducing a phrase that has, as St. Felix's article says, rolled off the tongue of the likes of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and been used in ads for IHOP.
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Yet Vine was still an outlet free from many of the constraints that black Americans so often face while seeking an audience for their creativity.
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
