“This is so Vine coded”

Abstract For several years, social media users have compared TikTok and the defunct short-video platform Vine through references to specific Vine videos and by attributing “Vine energy” to Vine-like tiktoks. Based on qualitative coding of 201 tiktoks and analysis of their comments, this article examines both discourse practices. I analyze how TikTok users create intertextual references to Vine and offer a taxonomy of communicative modes and platform features employed for multimodal cross-platform intertextual reference. I identify the semiotic features shared by tiktoks with “Vine energy,” which I argue constitutes a distinct short-form genre, and demonstrate that they are based on a partial collective memory of Vine. Using the framework of media(ted) nostalgia, I argue that fans’ positively biased participatory media texts have indelibly shaped how Vine is remembered on TikTok. Through my analysis I show that vine references and “Vine energy” comments both index “knowledgeable fan” identity and create affiliation between TikTok users through expression and recognition of shared knowledge.