Now that the dust has settled over Twitter's decision to shutter Vine, it's time to start thinking about where Vine users are going to end up once the service shuts down. It's still not clear when Vine is actually going to halt operations, and rumors of a potential buyer may save the service, but in the meantime, it would be wise to save all your videos, and think about where you want to go next.

The first thing you're probably going to want to do is save your Vine videos. There are several ways to do this.

How to Batch Save Your Vine Videos

To batch save your Vine videos, you're likely going to have to import them into another online platform. That is unless Twitter decides to give users that option.

  • Giphy -- You can save your Vine videos by converting them to GIFs using Giphy. This is by no means a perfect solution. The audio from your video is saved separately as your Vine video essentially becomes an audio-less GIF. The process is, however, a simple one where you can import all of your Vine videos at the click of a button.
Giphy
  • Coub -- Coub is offering Vine users the ability to import not only all their videos, but their likes and followers as well. Essentially, Coub is attempting to snap up all of Vine's users. As Coub points out, the more people who migrate from Vine to Coub, the more of the original community will be saved. Go to coub.com/vine to start the process. More information on how Coub compares to Vine can be found later in this article.

How to Save Your Vines One at a Time

While options for batch saving your Vines are few and far between, there are plenty of ways to save your videos one by one.

  • Save to Your Computer -- It's old school and it's slow, but one way you can selectively save the Vine videos of your choice is to open up your Vine account in a browser, right-click the video you want to save, and choose Save Video As. You can then choose where to save the video on your computer. (It will save the video to your computer as an mp4 file.)
  • QQ -- If you want more control over the quality of your video, add qq to the beginning of the url. For example, if your Vine video is at this address (https://vine.co/v/bv9dvKvDIBX) you would put (https://qqvine.co/v/bv9dvKvDIBX) in your browser. You can then choose from two high quality and one low quality files to download.
QQ
  • VineDownloader -- Sites like VineDownloader and Vine Video Download (no longer available) also make it easy (but tedious) to download your vines. Paste the URL of your vine into the service and they will generate a download button.

Now that you know how you can save your Vine videos, here's where you can go in the future instead.

Alternative 1: Instagram

Instagram is the one social network that probably stands the gain the most from Vine shutting down. Instagram videos can be anywhere from 3 to 60 seconds long, so if you want to stay true to your original Vine style, you can always choose to limit yourself to the six seconds that you're used to. On Instagram, however, you can take advantage of a feature that didn't exist on Vine -- adding filters to your videos.

Instagram is one of the most viable alternatives to Vine because of its already existing and active user base, and because, like Vine, it operates primarily as a social media network rather than just a vehicle to post video content. Vine users might also like Instagram's app Boomerang (available for iOS and Android) which you can use to create looping videos out of 10 photos.

If you're just getting started on Instagram, be sure to check out our tips for Instagram newbies.

So how does Instagram compare with Vine's features? Check out the list below:

  • Video Limit: 3 to 60 seconds
  • Looping Videos: Yes
  • Followers: Yes
  • Likes: Yes
  • View Counts: Yes
  • Reshare Videos on Your Account: Yes (using third-party apps)
  • Embed: Yes
  • Platform: iOS and Android (for sharing); iOS, Android, and Web (for viewing)

Alternative 2: Coub

As we mentioned earlier, you can import all of your Vine videos, followers, and likes into Coub. You have to sign up for a Coub account first after which you can begin the process. The Coub interface looks a lot like an older version of Twitter.

Coub users can upload looped videos that are up to 10 seconds long. The videos can be uploaded directly through your browser, can be filmed using a webcam, or you can even paste a link from online videos on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and more. You can make edits to the video through the Coub interface, add music to your video, and add hashtags to your post so that other users can easily find your videos.

To find out more about how Coub works, check out the video below:

Coub is as strong a contender as Instagram for Vine users looking for a new home. In terms of features and video style, it is the closest to Vine because it limits the video (in this case to ten seconds), and like Vine, the videos loop.

  • Video Limit: 10 seconds
  • Looping Videos: Yes
  • Followers: Yes
  • Likes: Yes
  • View Counts: Yes
  • Reshare Videos on Your Account: Yes
  • Embed: Yes
  • Platform: iOS, Android, and Web (for sharing and viewing)

Alternative 3: Periscope

Vine users might be understandably gun-shy about going to another Twitter platform, but there are several reasons to join Periscope. Available for both iOS and Android users, Periscope also plugs in to your existing Twitter following making it easy to share videos and cultivate a following, much the same way Vine did at first.

Where Periscope differs quite significantly from Vine is that it does not appear to have any time limits on videos. More importantly, Periscope forces you to broadcast live to your audience. This is a feature that is not going to appeal to everyone, especially those who were careful to craft the perfect six-second video using Vine's editing features.

  • Video Limit: None
  • Looping Videos: No
  • Followers: Yes
  • Likes: Yes
  • View Counts: Yes (live and total)
  • Reshare Cideos on Your Account: No
  • Embed: Yes (by embedding a tweet with the Periscope link)
  • Platform: iOS, Android, and Web

Alternative 4: Snapchat

Another alternative to Vine with an existing user base is Snapchat. The popular social network allows users to publicly share Stories (a feature also available on Instagram). Stories are a series of video clips that are up to 10 seconds long each -- but they won't be on your profile for longer than 24 hours.

You can save your Snapchat videos to your phone to post on other sites like YouTube or you can save them in your Snapchat Memories within the app where only you can view them.

At the end of the day, if you're looking for an alternative to Vine, Snapchat offers the community but doesn't have the added benefit of creating an impressive catalog of videos that can be viewed at any time. You can also use all of Snapchat filters on your videos.

  • Video Limit: 10 seconds
  • Looping Videos: No
  • Followers: Yes
  • Likes: Yes
  • View Counts: Yes
  • Reshare Videos on Your Account: No
  • Embed: No
  • Platform: iOS and Android

Out of all of these options, Coup and Instagram are likely to gain the most out of the Vine shutdown, with Snapchat running a distant third. Periscope, by virtue of being a Twitter product itself, and one that is meant for live streamed rather than edited video is unlikely to gain much traction among users burnt by the Vine shutdown.

Where do you plan to take your Vine videos? Let us know in the comments.