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 (not less than to me), TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew responded, saying TikTok is just not on the market, and vouched to struggle towards the invoice that goals to take away TikTok from iPhone and Android telephones in the US.
Politics apart, the factor is that… I don’t assume the essence of TikTok will ever depart the US. Or not less than not within the close to future, and definitely not within the subsequent 9 months.
That being stated, if/when “TikTok-ing” ultimately turns into uncool (like Fb did)… What would be the subsequent massive 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 Drawback! 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 could 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 certainly one of TikTok’s largest property
- A give attention to enabling customers to construct and preserve creator-fan relationships
In relation to TikTok’s notorious algorithm, though nobody actually is aware of precisely the way it operates, everybody is aware of that it’s been liable for the infinite scrolling we do on the app. However there’s a superb facet to “the algorithm” – one fewer individuals make the most of, and that’s the creator’s benefit.
By coincidence or not, the world of leisure was already headed in the 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 could be dancers, however one which stands out to me is comic Matt Rife who rode the TikTok wave like no different after a viral quick clip modified his life in a single day.
Using on the TikTok wave, rockstar-status comic Matt Rife bought out a world tour, crashed Ticketmaster (sure, like Taylor Swift), and can quickly develop into 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 should 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 the rest, TikTok has its “darkish facet”, and with no 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 can even 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 telephone’s audio system.
And to show my questionable professionalism, I can even let you know that, based on analysis, the common individual within the US appears to spend practically one hour on TikTok (as of 2024). That’s twice as lengthy in comparison with 2019.
To verify how a lot time you spend on TikTok (or some other app), open your iPhone/Android battery settings, and verify 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 – submit the Covid pandemic when individuals had a number of free time on their fingers to create and eat TikTok movies.
However a few of you would possibly do not forget that earlier than TikTok there was Vine – the same short-form video platform that attracted a younger viewers and largely younger creators. However Vine is… useless (and Elon Musk in all probability isn’t too thrilled about it).
Nonetheless, TikTok’s affect and operation mannequin rapidly prolonged past the app itself, as different social media platforms straight 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 compelled out of the US (the place 5% of its world person base comes from), the essence of TikTok isn’t leaving the US simply but. It can live on by way of the likes of Instagram Reels and TikTok Shorts.
US-based TikTok creators make up an essential a part of TikTok’s “creator’s block”, they usually’d have to search out one other technique to join with thousands and 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 can be achieved – maintain American person information in… America.
Are “tremendous apps” the following massive factor after TikTok, and can Elon Musk resurrect the essence of Vine as a part of “X”?
Fb could be the closest factor to an excellent app obtainable within the US but it surely 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 associates’ Instagram photos in 1,000,000 years, however I see advertisements and random cat movies all day, day by 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 alternate options to TikTok (having copied TikTok’s complete factor), each social media app that’s shaken up the world ultimately 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 develop into the so-called “tremendous app”.
A “tremendous app” is principally a single app that acts like a swiss military knife, permitting you to do nearly all the things and something on it, which means you by no means actually need to depart 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 venture. Maybe that’s the correct time? Hear, hear! What if Vine is coming again… as a part of “X”?
Aside from appearing like a social media app (much 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 all the things you have to do in your telephone sounds a bit… monopolistic. However not should you ask the identical US congress members who say Apple ought to enable such apps on the App retailer. Who’re additionally the identical congress members who’re about to ban TikTok.
Irony, irony, irony…
