The former head of Vine is joining Google’s virtual reality team

Google Cardboard was a great way to give us all a taste of virtual reality, but the real virtual reality experience will come this year with the arrival of high-end headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. That doesn’t mean Google no longer has a part to play in the market, however, as the company has scooped up Jason Toff, the former general manager of Vine, to work on the company’s virtual reality projects. Toff is one of the four executives that left Twitter on Sunday, and while the reason for their simultaneous departures is unclear, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claims that they were all voluntary. 

The arrival of consumer level virtual reality is one of the most anticipated tech developments heading our way this year, both for customers and developers alike. The fledgling industry clearly has some major pull, as Vine General Manager Jason Toff has announced that he is leaving the company to work with Google on virtual reality. Jason Toff didn’t offer an explanation for the move, other than exciting new opportunities to work on. He had been the director of product management at Twitter before heading over to Vine a couple of years ago, and had worked at YouTube before that. Unfortunately for Twitter, which owns Vine, this is just the latest in a number of high profile resignations, which includes Kevin Weil, head of products, and Katie Stanton, Twitter’s chief of global media. The company has been under increasing pressure to recapture its previous growth and generate additional revenue lately, and has seen its stock price fall to new lows. To accommodate the recent departures, CEO Jack Dorsey will be reorganizing some of the leading positions within the company. Twitter COO Adam Bain will be taking on responsibilities for the production, media and HR teams, while CTO Adam Messinger will be heading up engineering and consumer product research and development.