After the controversial move to kill its subsidiary Vine, Twitter announced that it is keeping some of Vine?s functionality within the larger Twitter application.

Rather than completely remove the looping, six-second videos of Vine, Twitter is opting to keep that feature as a part of Twitter. The decision should alleviate some of the concerns of Vine-lovers who were devastated by the news of its passing.

?Vine was a success: they built a company that millions enjoyed, and they managed to get it acquired,? said Michael Becker, managing partner at mCordis. ?The fact that Vine is being shut down does not in any way reflect on the success of Vine. 

?Vine, like any other social channel, is a medium for expression and audience engagement. Media channels come and go, they evolve.?  

Vine, while always second fiddle to Twitter, was a much-loved social media platform for years since its debut. Many users flocked to its looping, six-second video format that encouraged fast, easily digestible bits of shareable content.

Recently however, Twitter announced that it was discontinuing support for the app, leading to mass mourning on Twitter and other social media platforms from Vine?s many fans.

At the time, many were concerned that all of the vines they had accumulated over the years would be going away, though Twitter put that idea to rest, revealing that every vine that had been created would still be available, but new ones could not be created through the Vine app, which would lose support.

At the time, the fate of the short, looping video format was left without closure. But now Twitter has announced that Vine-like features will live on within the standard Twitter app.

Beginning in January, Twitter is integrating something called the Vine Camera ? a feature within the Twitter app that recreates the creation of vines without the cumbersome infrastructure needed to run it as its own separate app.

And to complete the transition, users can now download their vines from Vine through the mobile app or online.

User retention
All of these new features are clearly an attempt on Twitter?s part to reach out to its users who felt stiffed by the closing of their favorite social media site and entice them to come to Twitter where similar features can be enjoyed.

While Vine?s fanbase was always smaller than Twitter?s, its proponents were always enthusiastic with many popular Vine users garnering millions of views and followers, becoming ?Vine stars.?

Twitter is attempting to reach out to those users who are feeling left out by the closing of Vine and hoping to make them more likely to continue using Twitter.

In addition to the new Vine Camera, Twitter has been busying itself by adding other new features such as its live streaming ability, which it has put to good use for marketing purposes with promotions for Star Wars Rogue One (see story).

?The key lesson for brands is to stay nimble and flexible and to find a way to simultaneously work across, and invest accordingly in, three horizons: tried and true? mature? media (at over 50 percent of budget), adolescent media (25 to 40 percent of budget) and emerging media (10 to 25 percent of budget),? Mr. Becker said. ?Value? individual engagement, behaviors insights, hidden gems and fundamental learnings? can be gleaned by being involved and engaged across all three horizons.