It is safe to say that TikTok, the popular Chinese social media platform where users can create, edit, and share short videos, is set to make even bigger waves in the coming months and years. For those who aren’t familiar with TikTok, this article provides a quick overview of what it is, how it works, and its potential impact on the future of social networks. Here’s a brief history of TikTok:
We can say that TikTok has skillfully combined features from Instagram, Facebook, X, and even Vine (the now-defunct app from X) to become one of the most popular mobile apps for young people and teenagers today.
TikTok offers an endless stream of entertaining, looping videos set to trendy music, complete with a plethora of visual filters, animated backgrounds, and sound effects. It’s the perfect platform for users who, already used to instant messaging, can’t wait to share videos with friends. Originally, videos were under a minute long, but since 2022, they can last up to ten minutes.
Common content on TikTok includes music videos, video montages, comedic clips with filters, user duets, and challenges, offering a wide variety of instant and engaging combinations. Businesses are increasingly using TikTok for brand promotion. Organizations like the United Nations also use the platform to engage people in important issues like world hunger or climate change, through challenges like #danceforchange.
In addition to being a powerful social network, TikTok is an ideal platform for inspiration and discovery. Younger generations are increasingly using TikTok for their searches instead of traditional search engines like Google.
Oh, and by the way, we have our own TikTok channel. Check it out here… and give us a follow 😉
TikTok’s history may not be as lengthy as Facebook’s or as dramatic as X’s, but it is a story of success. It all started in 2016 with ByteDance, the Chinese tech company that launched the app in China, initially named A.me in September 2016, and later Douyin in December 2016. A year later, it was released in most markets outside mainland China under the name TikTok.
TikTok’s Acquisition of Musical.ly TikTok bought Musical.ly for $1.1 billion. Musical.ly was another Chinese social networking service, focusing on video creation and live streaming, allowing users to make 15- to 60-second videos with various filters, effects, and speed settings. The merger between TikTok and Musical.ly was completed on August 2, 2018, and the merged app retained the TikTok name. Users from Musical.ly, known as musers, automatically had their accounts, content, and followers moved to TikTok.
Although TikTok is hugely successful today, its early days saw a boycott attempt from musers. Upset about their cherished platform being absorbed into another, they voiced their dissatisfaction in comments on the Google Play Store. This protest is now just an interesting footnote in history, seeing how TikTok won over users and became a leading social network.
By 2018, TikTok had already become one of the most downloaded mobile apps in the United States, partly due to endorsements from celebrities. For instance, Jimmy Fallon, a popular American comedian, highlighted the app on his show.
These and other promotional efforts helped TikTok grow rapidly. By the end of 2018, it had over 88 million downloads in the U.S. and 880 million globally. It was available in 75 languages and 150 markets worldwide. Shortly thereafter, TikTok surpassed Twitter and Snapchat in registered users, with a total of 1.65 billion global downloads.
As expected, other social networks soon began to imitate TikTok’s successful formats. Apps like Byte, Instagram Reels, and Likee from Singapore emerged as TikTok clones.
While many social networks have drawn inspiration from TikTok to develop new features, TikTok itself has borrowed from others multiple times.
In March 2022, TikTok announced the launch of TikTok Stories, similar to Instagram stories. These stories appear on users’ profiles when clicking their profile image, can be liked, and disappear after 24 hours.
Even though TikTok was reigning supreme, a competitor, BeReal, emerged as a threat, capturing users’ attention. In 2022, this French social network topped download charts for iOS in the U.S. and Spain. TikTok responded by launching a similar app, TikTok Now, in September 2022. This independent app required users to upload a daily photo or 10-second video using both front and rear cameras.
To boost TikTok Now’s popularity, TikTok launched a referral campaign.
Referral Campaign to Attract New Users was carried out in November 2022. This allowed new users to earn up to $7.70 upon registering on the app and an additional maximum of $7.70 for every new user who used their code to join TikTok Now.
Ultimately, in June 2023, TikTok announced it would discontinue this app. Although the reason was not specified, it’s likely that the decision was due to waning user interest in experiences like TikTok Now or BeReal.
Nevertheless, TikTok has also entered the eCommerce space: in early 2021, it announced a partnership with Shopify, one of the world’s leading platforms for online store creation, to enhance business and brand development on its social network by optimizing advertising strategies. Soon after, TikTok made another advancement within this partnership, moving closer to becoming an eCommerce platform. This new integration aimed to offer users a new eCommerce experience via a new shopping tab on the profiles of brands or businesses featured on Shopify.
Additionally, TikTok ventured into live commerce with its TikTok Shop initiative, although it was short-lived. Given the success of this model in China (in 2021, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, generated $130.9 billion in product sales), the platform aimed for similar results globally, beginning with the UK.
However, the results in the UK were limited and in summer 2022, a shift in strategy was announced regarding its live commerce plans, postponing the launch of TikTok Shop to other European countries (Germany, Spain, France, and Italy) and the USA. Subsequently, in January 2023, it was announced that TikTok Shop would soon arrive in Spain and 10 other countries, but the social network delayed its plans again, and this rollout has not yet happened.
In August 2023, the platform launched Fulfilled by TikTok in the UK, a service managing all logistics for merchants and brands, from storage to shipping, allowing them to focus on marketing and product development.
TikTok Shop debuted in the USA in September 2023 via an exclusive shopping tab embedded in the “For You” and “Following” sections. Users can search for products, filter by categories, discover items through recommendations, make live purchases, manage orders, and access affiliate programs for creators.
Success brings many advantages, but it also invites criticism. This is the case with Meta and TikTok, as Facebook’s parent company is displeased that another network is capturing public attention, especially among younger audiences. So much so that in 2022, Meta reportedly funded a campaign to discredit the Chinese social network.
They allegedly hired Targeted Victory, a well-known consulting firm associated with the Republican Party. From Meta, Andy Stone, a company spokesperson, remarked “We believe that all platforms, including TikTok, should undergo scrutiny proportional to their growing success”. However, internal emails from Targeted Victory accessed by The Washington Post revealed that part of Meta’s strategy was to blame TikTok for dangerous trends that had actually originated on Meta apps.
The goal, according to an exclusive report by The Washington Post, was to portray TikTok as “a threat to American children and youth” and prompt politicians to take action against the social network. Additionally, the U.S. government was already monitoring TikTok before Meta initiated this campaign.
In 2020, Donald Trump banned business dealings with ByteDance, a move that was forgotten with Joe Biden’s rise to power. However, the Chinese social network is now back under scrutiny.
In December 2022, it came to light that ByteDance employees accessed data on American journalists working for Forbes magazine, who were examining the connection between the company’s US operations and China. ByteDance eventually acknowledged the operation, known as Project Raven, and terminated the internal auditor and two team members involved.
In January 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives prohibited its staff from downloading TikTok onto Federal Government devices, unless for research purposes. Catherine Szpindor, the administrative director of the US Congress, cited a “security risk” as the reason for this ban, implying TikTok might be used for espionage by the Chinese government, specifically the Communist Party. This concern led around 19 states to impose the same ban for their employees.
The U.S.’s move was soon followed by the European Commission. Citing cybersecurity issues, in February 2023, the Commission banned the app from being installed on official or personal devices used by employees for work purposes.
Other countries that have banned or limited TikTok over concerns it could be used for censorship, political propaganda, or gathering user data include the UK, Denmark, Canada, and New Zealand. Meanwhile, in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the app has been banned for at least three years.
According to We Are Social and Meltwater’s Digital 2024 report, TikTok currently boasts 1.562 billion monthly active users, ranking as the fifth most popular social network globally.
The app has clearly struck a chord with young people, who spend the most time sharing dances, challenges, and trends. As per the latest data from the Digital 2024 report, TikTok ranks fifth among users’ favorite social networks (7.4%). When broken down by age, it’s particularly popular among those aged 16 to 24, with 14.7% of women and 9.1% of men in these age groups selecting TikTok as their favorite platform.
Source: We Are Social
The platform continues to grow daily in both user numbers and popularity. Brands must consider engaging with TikTok to reach its vast audience, particularly Generation Z, by participating in current trends and building lasting relationships with their audience.
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