How Vine’s co-founder is trying to take on TikTok with this new six-second video sharing app

Vine’s co-founder Dom Hofmann has launched Byte, another short-form video app, this time in direct competition with rising platform TikTok.

Byte seems largely the same its predecessor in functionality — allowing users to to upload six-second, looping videos from a simple interface — with added features similar to TikTok’s popular content discovery features.

For example, in place of TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed, Byte’s suggestion feed is labelled ‘For Your Consideration’, which is designed to curate trending videos and extend their life cycle within the app. Hofmann said on Twitter the suggestion feed’s evolution is a priority for developers.

“We’re working on a recommendation feed that learns as you use the app and should also help with reach,” he wrote.

“We didn’t start with it because there wasn’t enough activity in beta to properly test it, but now we can.”

we’re working on a recommendation feed that learns as you use the app and should also help with reach. we didn’t start with it because there wasn’t enough activity in beta to properly test it, but now we can. you can follow our algorithm changelog here: https://t.co/pvL0eALsYl https://t.co/cJFzSeos1S

— dom hofmann (@dhof) January 25, 2020

Although Vine made a large cultural impact — some of its alumni include singer Shawn Mendes, video magician Zach King, and controversial YouTuber Logan Paul — Byte faces heavier competition against Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, which launched Lil Nas X’s single “Old Town Road” to become number one for the longest period in chart history.

Over Twitter, Byte also addressed Byte’s planned finance model, a missing component of Vine, which eventually led Twitter to sink the platform.

“Very soon, we’ll introduce a pilot version of our partner program which we will use to pay creators,” the company’s tweet said.

“Byte celebrates creativity and community, and compensating creators is one important way we can support both.”

very soon, we’ll introduce a pilot version of our partner program which we will use to pay creators. byte celebrates creativity and community, and compensating creators is one important way we can support both. stay tuned for more info.

— byte (@byte_app) January 25, 2020

However, after debuting at the top of the Apple’s US App Store over the weekend, the video sharing app is already experiencing bugs and spam commenters.

still working on some important issues, but the first 36 hours of byte have been awesome. here’s a note about what we’re working on https://t.co/oHwhpyfvjO pic.twitter.com/HduipnC0XN

— dom hofmann (@dhof) January 26, 2020

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