TikTok, which launched in 2016 and has since exploded in popularity, claims to be the #1 video social app globally (though other metrics suggest this isn’t entirely true). Whatever it’s ranking, there’s no denying that TikTok—which made headlines recently when it was removed from the App Store only to quickly return—is here to stay. However, the question remains: What exactly are all of these millions of users watching on TikTok? It turns out, they’re watching hundreds of thousands of videos like these TikTok is Here to Ruin Your Day
Where did it come from?
Tik Tok was originally a Chinese app that lets you create and share 15-second videos with friends. It’s since become one of the most popular apps in China and South Korea, where it racked up 300 million users. It’s about to gain its first major US user base: TechCrunch reports that Tik Tok will be launched on Amazon Fire TV in time for Super Bowl Sunday.
Why We Love it
If you’re not familiar with TikTok, it’s basically a short-form video platform that allows users to upload a 15-second video. It makes Instagram Stories look like its run by Andy Warhol. If you’re not on it already, now’s as good a time as any for that to change—it will be hard for you not to get hooked by some of these videos
How much time do we spend on it?
With so many options for entertainment at our fingertips, it seems like we’re constantly looking for something new. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but when your focus is on creating content people want to watch, not just consuming something that makes you feel good or distracted, social media might be a challenge. Sure, there are some great success stories here—but they’re outliers and they aren’t easy. And how much time do we spend on them?
What’s next for social media?
TikTok is a video app from Chinese media firm ByteDance, which also operates news aggregator Toutiao and messaging app WeChat. TikTok has gone viral over the past few weeks in Asia, seemingly with little effort or promotion—users just suddenly started downloading it en masse in November 2018. Now, you’ll find viral TikTok videos everywhere: on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook stories, even Snapchat.