The approaching TikTok ban has been signed, sealed, and delivered by president Biden, and ByteDance (the corporate that owns TikTok) has now been given 9 months to promote the preferred app on the earth if it desires to maintain it working within the US.
Unsurprisingly (at the least to me), TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew responded, saying TikTok shouldn’t be on the market, and vouched to struggle towards the invoice that goals to take away TikTok from iPhone and Android telephones in america.
Politics apart, the factor is that… I don’t assume the essence of TikTok will ever go away the US. Or at the least not within the close to future, and definitely not within the subsequent 9 months.
That being mentioned, if/when “TikTok-ing” finally turns into uncool (like Fb did)… What would be the subsequent huge factor for social media?
How TikTok modified social media and the world perpetually: Creating alternatives, eliminating gatekeepers, and making individuals much more hooked on their telephones
No Holywood? No Downside! TikTok gave a platform to next-gen celebrities like Matt Rife – one of many hottest stand-up comedians proper now.
TikTok isn’t good for you however the algorithm may be good to you
Though short-form movies aren’t a brand new phenomenon, TikTok revolutionized social media with two key strikes:
- A mysterious content material discovery algorithm, which has confirmed to be one among TikTok’s largest property
- A give attention to enabling customers to construct and preserve creator-fan relationships
In terms of TikTok’s notorious algorithm, though nobody actually is aware of precisely the way it operates, everybody is aware of that it’s been chargeable for the countless scrolling we do on the app. However there’s an excellent facet to “the algorithm” – one fewer individuals reap the benefits of, and that’s the creator’s benefit.
By coincidence or not, the world of leisure was already headed in direction of a future with out TV, and TikTok occurred to reach on the proper second, enabling creators from varied areas of leisure to discover a (generally) unpredictable however extremely disruptive platform to share their factor with the world.
A lot of the TikTok-made celebrities is perhaps dancers, however one which stands out to me is comic Matt Rife who rode the TikTok wave like no different after a viral brief clip modified his life in a single day.
Driving on the TikTok wave, rockstar-status comic Matt Rife offered out a world tour, crashed Ticketmaster (sure, like Taylor Swift), and can quickly turn out to be the youngest comic to carry out on the Hollywood Bowl.
Examples like Matt Rife are proof that TikTok isn’t only a enjoyable app for dance and cooking movies however a cracked door with out established “gatekeepers” on the earth of leisure ( you, Hollywood).
With TikTok, you don’t want a director, producer, and distributor… You’re the director, producer, and distributor! That’s when you’re constant at posting, and if the notorious algorithm reveals you some love…
Is TikTok addictive? The actual query is “how” addictive it’s…
What’s your TikTok display time?
Nonetheless, like anything, TikTok has its “darkish facet”, and with out a shadow of a doubt, this is able to be the app’s addictive nature.
Certain, all social media apps are addictive however the identical “mysterious algorithm” that may change a creator’s life in a single day also can hook individuals on the opposite facet of the TikTok like an actual drug.
I don’t have TikTok (relaxation assured, I discover different methods to waste time), however I can see TikTok’s addictive nature by way of somebody like my teenage cousin who by no means appears to not be on TikTok. As he’s scrolling, I’d maintain overhearing probably the most random issues sounding off from his cellphone’s audio system.
And to show my questionable professionalism, I also can let you know that, in line with analysis, the typical individual within the US appears to spend almost one hour on TikTok (as of 2024). That’s twice as lengthy in comparison with 2019.
To examine how a lot time you spend on TikTok (or some other app), open your iPhone/Android battery settings, and examine which apps are consuming up your display time.
The US can ban TikTok however TikTok’s identification will dwell on by way of Instagram and YouTube
See, TikTok exploded onto the social media scene very quickly, quickly turning into the preferred app on the earth – put up the Covid pandemic when individuals had lots of free time on their fingers to create and devour TikTok movies.
However a few of you may keep in mind that earlier than TikTok there was Vine – an identical short-form video platform that attracted a younger viewers and principally younger creators. However Vine is… lifeless (and Elon Musk most likely isn’t too thrilled about it).
Nonetheless, TikTok’s affect and operation mannequin shortly prolonged past the app itself, as different social media platforms immediately copied TikTok’s operation, enterprise, and algorithm mannequin for their very own apps – Instagram (owned by Fb) and YouTube (owned by Google).
Therefore, relaxation assured that even when TikTok had been to be pressured out of the US (the place 5% of its world person base comes from), the essence of TikTok isn’t leaving america simply but. It’s going to live on by way of the likes of Instagram Reels and TikTok Shorts.
US-based TikTok creators make up an necessary a part of TikTok’s “creator’s block”, they usually’d have to seek out one other technique to join with hundreds of thousands of their followers. Naturally, Instagram (Reels) and YouTube (Shorts) would be the apparent new locations for his or her short-form content material. And so, the US authorities’s purpose could be achieved – maintain American person information in… America.
Are “tremendous apps” the following huge factor after TikTok, and can Elon Musk resurrect the essence of Vine as a part of “X”?
Fb is perhaps the closest factor to an excellent app accessible within the US however it pales compared to the Chinese language WeChat.
Personally, I believe copying TikTok’s algorithm-based working mannequin is ruining Instagram and YouTube. I haven’t seen my pals’ Instagram footage in one million years, however I see adverts and random cat movies all day, every single day. However now I see why Instagram needed to be “reinvented”, and that’s to suck up America’s soon-to-be-stranded TikTok person base.
In the long run, even when Instagram and YouTube are the plain options to TikTok (having copied TikTok’s complete factor), each social media app that’s shaken up the world finally hits a peak level. After which comes one thing new.
If I needed to hedge my bets, I’d say that the pure evolution for apps like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter is to turn out to be the so-called “tremendous app”.
A “tremendous app” is mainly a single app that acts like a swiss military knife, permitting you to do nearly every part and something on it, that means you by no means really want to go away the app to make use of a unique one.
Twitter boss Elon Musk has been fairly vocal about his plans to create the primary “tremendous app” within the US, utilizing Twitter as the premise of the challenge. Maybe that’s the best time? Hear, hear! What if Vine is coming again… as a part of “X”?
Other than performing like a social media app (just like Twitter), WeChat lets Chinese language customers textual content, name, and even make cell funds and purchases with out leaving the app. And that’s simply scratching the floor.
The issue with this app-roach (no must clap) is {that a} single app that does every part that you must do in your cellphone sounds a bit… monopolistic. However not when you ask the identical US congress members who say Apple ought to permit such apps on the App retailer. Who’re additionally the identical congress members who’re about to ban TikTok.
Irony, irony, irony…
