Keyly Sandoval

Dr. Santosh Khadka

English 113B

23 September 2019

Viewing Vine and Starbucks From a Third Space Perspective

Sometimes humans tend to get overwhelmed between their work and home life. It is

completely normal to get stressed about these situations. It is very important to be able to de-

stress away from work and home and have a safe place. A third space is a safe place that does not

involve your work or home life. Third spaces can be found anywhere public or on any web spa-

ces. Starbucks and Vine are third spaces that can help you destress. Some of the most common

questions are " Why is it considered a third space? What are the privacy policies for this space?

How productive are these spaces?" For example, Starbucks cafes are called public third spaces.

Vine, on the other hand, is also a third space but it is called a webspace. They are used to be able

to rest, reflect, and reset your body and mind.

Vine is a social media application that allows users who have an account upload and

watch six-second looping video clips. Vine was created by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and

Colin Kroll. It was released on January 24, 2013. Vine became one of the most video sharing ap-

plication on the market.

Vine allowed you to be able to be creative and put out your content to inspire others. You

were able to share silly videos and upload your own to make others laugh. Vine is known for

having so many iconic and funny videos. Laughter can have such a positive effect on the human

body and one's mental health. Laughing can help reduce stress, relief pain temporary, reduce
anxiety, and relax your muscles according to the article on HelpGuide called Laughter is the best

medicine. I would use vine as a distraction from my personal life and school when I was

younger. I would go on it because it would make me happy and laugh when I was sad as a kid.

Laughing can help reduce stress, relief pain temporary, reduce anxiety, and relax your muscles.

Vine provides you with a distraction while reducing a lot of your negative feeling by just making

you laugh at silly 6-second videos. This is what makes vine a third space because it helps you

relax, reset, create, and reflect. Vine does have some policy rules but they call it content bound-

aries. On the vine website, it states "Our goal is to provide a service that allows you to discover

and receive content from sources that interest you as well as to share your content with others.

We respect the ownership of the content that users share and each user is responsible for the con-

tent he or she provides. Because of these principles, we do not actively monitor user content and

will not censor user content, except in limited circumstances described below." This means that

they will not suspend or remove your content unless they fall under certain limitations. They re-

spect the content the user uploads and consumes as long there are no impersonations of others,

abuse the company trademark, expose your own or someone else's private information, post sub-

jects that are sensitive to the media, pornography or any sexually explicit content, explicit graph-

ic content, threats, copyrighting, misuses of Vine badges, and unlawful uses.

Vine was a very productive application according to The Atlantic's article called " Why

we Loved Vine So Much." The author Robinson Meyer says "While Vine’s growth had slowed in

the past year and a half, it was once one of the most vibrant and creative factories of culture on

the internet. From 2012 to 2015, there was simply nowhere online like Vine. You could get lost

in Vine-like it was Wikipedia, and you could laugh on Vine-like it was YouTube. It welded the
old internet’s spontaneity and “randomness” to the new social web’s scale and diversity." Meyer

is saying that Vine was very unique and was based on productive creativity by the creators who

were behind these videos. There was diversity amongst the creators of the videos and the user

who were on the app just to watch the content. The age number of the users were very diverse

and so was the content being put out in these videos. This webspace is defiantly a third space.

Starbucks is a coffee company that has over 30,000 locations worldwide. It was founded

in Settle, Washington on March 31, 1971. It was originally founded by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon

Bowker, and Zev Siegel. There are over 80,000 combinations for drinks. They sell between 2.916

and 2.946 billion cups of coffee or tea in a day without including any pastries. Starbucks is such

a successful company. According to their online website, their mission is to “inspire and nurture

the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” In the article by Plane-

tary Coffee called "Third Places: A Meditation on Coffee Culture and the way Spaces Shape us"

says "....3rd places can be integral spaces for individuals to gather and be amongst close friends,

neighbors, and quirky acquaintances. This belief informs our inspiration to create a cosmic cof-

fee house where music, art, and ideas can thrive. A place where people of diverse interests and

backgrounds can relax, create dialogue and feel at home in a cozy, welcoming, and inclusive en-

vironment. I believe places like these can serve as a communal sanctuary..." I think what the au-

thor of this article says here is very important because it explains why Starbucks or any other

coffee shop is a third space. One should be able to feel welcomed no matter their race or gender.

It is perfect for reflection while you sip coffee or If you are on your lunch break. You can rest as

and have some tea to help you relax and reflect on your day. Whenever I walk into Starbucks I

do get a very welcoming feeling. I usually order a drink and go in to do my homework or study
and sometimes connect and make new friends. It is a great way to socialize with others and it

serves as a distraction from your personal life and work.

Starbucks recently added the use of the third space policy to their rules after an incident

where two black males were arrested for asking to use the bathroom without making any pur-

chases and then sitting down peacefully. Their updated policy states that when being inside a

Starbucks to please using the spaces as intended, be considerate of others, communicating with

respect and to act responsibly while practicing the third space. Starbucks is a very productive

space both economically and from a third space perspective. Not only does this place offer deli-

cious flavorful drinks but it offers a space for every community around it to be able to be suc-

cessful. Starbucks gives me a place where I can successfully finish my homework and brain-

storm on new ideas on how to succeed in school.

Both Vine and Starbucks are very different from each other. They are unique in there own

ways but the bottom line is the same. The bottom is that they are both third spaces. Whether the

space is online or at a public place like a coffee shop. These two are great ways to channel refec-

tion and rest your mind and body. I have used these spaces unintentionally without being aware

of what a third space was back when I was a child. I still use Starbucks as a third space away

from my personal life and school.

 Works Cited

1.) Budds, Diana. “It's Time to Take Back Third Places.” Curbed, Curbed, 31 May 2018,

www.curbed.com/2018/5/31/17414768/starbucks-third-place-bathroom-public.

2.) “Laughter Is the Best Medicine.” HelpGuide.org, 24 June 2019, www.helpguide.org/articles/

mental-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm.

3.) Meyer, Robinson. “Why We Loved Vine So Much.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company,

28 Oct. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/vine-was-too-good-for-us/

505622/.

4.) Planetary Coffee. “Third Places: A Meditation on Coffee Culture and the Way Spaces Shape

Us.” Planetary Coffee, 20 Mar. 2019, planetarycoffee.com/2018/12/05/third-places-a-meditation-

on-coffee-culture-and-the-way-spaces-shape-us/.