Whether we like it or not, we all have heard of TikTok, a Chinese short video app where you can make and also watch short videos. Wikipedia defines it as "a video-sharing social networking service." It is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The social media platform is used to make a variety of short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education, that have a duration from 15 seconds to one minute. Conclusion: It’s like a vine, but less exciting, and way more engaging.
This app has been around since 2016 but became really popular during quarantine time. In fact, according to Medium.com, TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in the world! Each month TikTok has around 800 MILLION active users. Its mission, as it claims, aims to “...capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and precious life moments, directly from the mobile phone. TikTok enables everyone to be a creator, and encourages users to share their passion and creative expression through their videos.”
Passion and creativity are a big part of the app's success, followed by immense boredom during quarantine time, but TikTok is truly addictive, and we are here to try to explain to you why.
People are so addicted to TikTok because of its videos of random things people like. For example, if a cooking video appears on your feed page, and you watch it, and you mark it as "liked" TikTok is programmed to keep you watching cooking videos. Now that the app knows you like that kind of content, it will bombard you with it... for HOURS! This model of engagement for users is called recommendation algorithm and they use it to provide accurate content that fits the historic behaviors of its users. In short, if you watched the same TikTok as others, you are likely to be recommended the videos they have watched.
Additionally, there is also this option called FYP (for you page). This is where videos that you may like appear. This page can save from all the different types of content: comedy, cooking, dance, inspirational quotes, fan pages, etc.
This is fun, but a little scary.
Usually, social media gives you some sort of choice in what you watch. Take YouTube, for example. The app recommends videos using an engagement algorithm, however, you always have some sort of choice in what you are watching. This does not happen with TikTok. TikTok simply recommends you nonstop sets of 15-second videos that you NEVER chose to watch.
This has been a huge success for users because it is pretty easy for anyone to go viral in Tiktok, but you're not recognized as a celebrity, you're recognized as an influencer. For example, a young girl started Tik Tok around the age of 15, she went Viral and now she has more than 100M+ followers at the age of 16 and is on the World Records Book.
Also, TikTok is a way for celebrities and artists to make their songs go viral, cause people create dances or trends with their songs, so they will be stuck in your head, and you will search them up.
In conclusion, TikTok offers users a sense of connection, distant engagement, and the ability to be anonymous and expressive with a stream of constantly relevant information. This is a total recipe for addiction. We recommend that even if you like the content and enjoy spending hours watching endless video streaming, you limit your time as a user in order to avoid addictive behaviors and find other ways to express yourself and connect to others that do not just include a screen.
TickTock influencers and why should you follow them:
This is a list of TikTokers that you should totally check out!
1. @elisalley If you are a Disney fan, make sure to watch him because he does really good Disney theories.
2. @butchhartman This is the creator of the show Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom a truly, true classic from Nickelodeon. He also draws and teaches how to draw anime on his TickTock account.
3. @disney You should totally watch this one since it’s the actual Disney TickTock account and it’s super fun.
4. @chemtecherphil This one is cool for scientific minds. He makes really cool experiments that you can do at home.
5. @disneyparks you should watch because it shows the inside world of Disney Parks - I personally recommend you to watch it- it is super fun!
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