“TikTok will change the way your social media works — even if you’re avoiding it.
—The New York Times
There is an app named TikTok, and a similarly high likelihood that you’re not totally sure what it’s all about. Maybe you asked someone younger in your life, and they tried to explain and possibly failed. Or maybe you’ve heard that this new, extraordinarily popular video app is “a refreshing outlier in the social media universe” that’s “genuinely fun to use.”
TikTok is a video-sharing, social-networking platform that is used to create lip-synching, comedy, dance and talent videos that range in length from three seconds to a minute. Many of you most likely have the app or have at least heard of it. TikTok is one of the world’s most popular apps, with more than 850 million active users.
TikTok is a free-for-all. It’s easy to make a video on TikTok, not just because of the tools it gives users, but because of extensive reasons and prompts it provides for you. You can select from an enormous range of sounds, from popular song clips to short moments from TV shows, YouTube videos or other TikToks. You can join a dare-like challenge, or participate in a dance meme, or make a joke. Or you can make fun of all of these things.
TikTok is more machine than man. In this way, it’s from the future — or at least a future. With this many people on one network, information and trends can spread incredibly fast. This can have a great impact on the world and on where people source their information.
The app has slowly become more and more integrated into society and peoples’ lives.
There are also countless ways that TikTok has an impact on the economy.
Firstly, having a social-media presence and platform has now become a full-time job for some teens and young adults.
Secondly, TikTok also has a huge, unprecedented impact on the music industry. Most TikToks are accompanied by a song in the background. Many artists have been named one-hit wonders because their song was put in a TikTok, and they were only known for that one song.
Lastly, businesses are greatly impacted by TikTok because of its heavy influence on consumerism.
TikTok has a massive impact on how we function as a society today. With a never-ending stream of videos, there is seemingly no way to get bored on the app. It has affected politics, the economy, the music industry, the definition of celebrity and so much more. It will be extremely interesting to see how Tiktok will continue to change and grow and how its users will do the same.
In a word, if you want to do business in China, Tiktok is a platform you must consider.