Vine, Twitter’s six-second video app, finally has a new boss: Hannah Donovan, former co-founder of the now defunct music service This Is My Jam, is taking over as Vine’s general manager.
Vine Has a New Boss: Music Executive Hannah Donovan
Donovan will start in May.
Shervin Lainez / HannahDonovan.com
Donovan announced the news in a tweet on Tuesday and a Vine spokesperson confirmed she’ll start at the company in May. Donovan most recently worked at Drip.com, a social network of sorts for artists to better connect with their fans. The company joined Kickstarter earlier this month as an “acqhire.” She also had stints at Viacom and Last.fm.
https://twitter.com/han/status/714845680158711808
Vine has been looking for a new general manager since the beginning of the year. Former GM Jason Toff left the company on the same day that four other high-ranking Twitter execs left, including its heads of media, product and engineering. AJ Frank, Vine’s head of business development and operations, was overseeing the product in the interim.
The appointment of a permanent GM may quell concerns that have cropped up internally at Twitter since Toff’s departure. Vine operates independently in New York City (as opposed to Twitter HQ in San Francisco), and some Twitter insiders feel the app has been drifting. That is, without a permanent GM in place, it was unclear whether Vine would fold into another department or even dissolve altogether. Many employees, both current and former, told Re/code that Vine felt forgotten.
Donovan’s hire implies that Twitter has plans for it to continue as a standalone product.
Donovan’s most recent experience at Drip may be one of the things that caught Twitter’s attention. Vine has relied heavily on content from Vine stars, or influential creators who bring scores of fans with them to the platform. But other platforms like Facebook and YouTube and Snapchat offer more competition than they once did, and some of these stars met with Vine late last year to discuss better ways to work together. Among the topics discussed was the idea of paying these stars to post on Vine.
Maintaining these relationships, and building new ones with the music industry, will be a likely focus for Donovan.
It is unclear to whom Donovan will report. Twitter has not named a permanent VP of product since the departure of Kevin Weil, also in early January.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
