6 seconds of fame: Canadians who owe their celebrity to Vine

The timer has finally run out on Vine.

When Twitter launched the micro-video feature back in 2013, it quickly became a viral enigma, challenging users to cram as much comedy, or culture, into each 480×480 pixel frame.

After three years, Twitter announced Thursday that it's killing off the short-video platform "in the coming months."

• Twitter announces it's discontinuing Vine
• Twitter tops Wall Street earnings expectations, will cut jobs
• Damn, Daniel! Mock fashion video goes viral

But the news isn't likely to stop those who jump-started their careers making snappy six-second videos with the service.

Vine royalty

Toronto-born, Florida-raised Andrew Bachelor is likely the biggest Canadian to rise out of the looping patchwork of videos.

Best known by his online alias King Bach, Bachelor reigns as the most followed person on the app. He amassed more than 16 million Vine followers with his offbeat, slice-of-life comedy. 

The business and film school graduate leveraged his Vine fame into wider social media celebrity, generating at one point an estimated $10,000 to $15,000 US a month just for ads on his YouTube videos. 

He's also made the leap to traditional media, landing recurring roles on The Mindy Project and in movies like Meet the Blacks.

​Eh Bee Family

Family-friendly — but still funny — Vine videos launched the Toronto-area Eh Bee Family into internet stardom.

Now the family of four has branched out, making money across all of its social media profiles including a recent digital campaign for GlaxoSmithKline, reports AdWeek.

Shawn Mendes

​From his humble beginnings in Pickering, Ont., international pop star Shawn Mendes can credit his career to Vine's short, looping clips.

Mendes rocketed to social media celebrity when he was just 16 after posting a six-and-a-half-second snippet of himself performing Justin Bieber's As Long as You Love Me.

"I woke up the next morning and my following was just blowing up," Mendes told CBC News in 2014.

Now 18, the Juno Award-winning multi-platinum artist dropped his second album last week. Illuminate debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Brittlestar

Stratford, Ont.'s Stewart Reynolds also hitched his family's wagon to Vine's star. Though, judging by a recent tweet, he's since upgraded his wagon for a Lamborghini.

The video-producing patriarch and family have racked up millions of views with their wholesome videos for such big name brands as Disney, Subway and Walmart.

When word of Vine's demise hit Thursday, Reynolds admitted that his family was "bummed" but pointed fans to his Facebook and Instagram instead.

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