Vine

The popular social media app that lets users upload 6 second video snippets will be discontinued in the near future. After acquiring Vine in 2012 for a rumored $30 million, Twitter announced on Thursday that it will be shutting the app down. There are likely numerous reasons for Vine's demise, including increased competition, Twitter's focus on Periscope, and the app's lack of profitability. Whatever the case, there are a lot of hilarious Vines out there that could potentially disappear forever.

Video sharing site Vine has announced a high quality format for bigger and better Vines. Initially launched in January 2013, the iOS app has received several updates. In the latest version, six-second looping clips known as Vines have been upgraded from 480p to 720p resolution.

iPhone owners will be able to take advantage of the upgrade immediately, with 720p coming to Android devices soon. Twitter acquired Vine shortly before its initial release, and the company continues to improve the service. An update released just last month gave the Vine app Background App Refresh capability, which makes it possible to watch already downloaded Vines without a data connection.

Vine has become an important social justice tool now that it has cleaned up its image by eliminating porn. For example, the social video service has been one of the major weapons utilized by protesters in Ferguson, Mo. during the Mike Brown demonstrations. This is why it is important that Vine just updated its app to make it easier to share videos on social media. The Vine app offers users a quick way to shoot and upload videos, which is important for capturing unexpected events. To make things even easier, users can now import existing videos from their camera roll so they can share them with other Vine users. The new feature supports slow motion video and allows users to mix previously recorded videos together.

The Vine app has also been updated with new editing tools which can be found by tapping the scissors icon on the preview screen. From here users can mute audio and access the one-touch preview and undo button. Other new features include a new grid mode, focus lock, ghost mode and torch mode that allows you to shoot in low light situations. You can learn more about all the new features on the Vine blog.

Facebook's motto seems to be if you can't beat them, buy them, and that's exactly what Mark Zuckerberg tried to do with when his copycat app Poke could not recreate the success of Snapchat. According to reports, Facebook is trying once again to compete with the popular messaging app after failing to acquire the company for a rumored $3 billion.

Zuckerberg has been secretly overseeing the development of an app known as "Slingshot", which "allows users to send short video messages with just a couple of taps," according to The Financial Times. The new video messaging app features a "simple and speedy user interface" and could be launched this month if Facebook plans to proceed with the project.