Post #4 Technology

     If you don’t know what TikTok is where have you been, living under a rock? Known as one of the most popular and fastest growing apps out there, TikTok has become the one stop shop for all types of content creation. This video-focused social media platform contains a variety of quick clips, ranging in length from 15 seconds to three minutes, in categories such as pranks, comedy, heartwarming stories, recipes, viral dance compilations, and entertainment. Ranked the third fastest growing brand in 2020 just after Zoom and Peacock by Morning Consultant and taking the top spot from Google as the leading website in 2021. TikTok is sweeping the nation and they have only just begun. 

History

     TikTok wasn’t always TikTok, it actually started out as an app out of China called Douyin launched by the company ByteDance in September 2016. Douyin was created in 200 days and had 100 million users within the first year, with over one billion videos watched daily. The Chinese company had the urge to expand their already successful app to the rest of the world and in one year they rebranded to the app we all know and love TikTok then lunched into the international market. The TikTok app scored top among free app downloads on app stores in Thailand as well as other countries on January 23, 2018. Most people remember that before TikTok their was a similar app on the scene called Musical.ly; well the people at ByteDance thought that by merging these two apps they could grow exponentially larger and that is exactly what they did. On August 2, 2018, TikTok and Musical.ly combined to become a bigger multimedia platform for the small price of $1 billion. They combined existing accounts and data into one app and continuing to keep the name TikTok. This brought an end to Musical.ly and made TikTok a global phenomenon. Since becoming a world wide sensation TikTok has acquired over 3 billion downloads in 2020 with the first app outside of the Facebook company to achieve this. 

TikTok How To

     Users of the TikTok smartphone app may produce a short video with music in the background or “sounds“ as it has been dubbed on the app. These sounds can also be altered and filters can also be placed over top of the video to make it even more eye catching.  TikTok's "For You" page is a stream of videos that are suggested to users depending on their app behavior. TikTok's artificial intelligence (AI) generates content based on what a user liked, engaged with, or searched for. Memes, lip-synced tunes, and comedic videos are just a few of the phenomena that have emerged on TikTok. Many of these trends have been spurred by Duets, a tool that allows users to add their own video to an existing video while keeping the original content's soundtrack. Trends are also a key part of the app's activity, and they're displayed on TikTok's explore page or the search logo page. What's fascinating about these "trends" is that they can be created by anyone, and if they catch on, they may become viral and users can post a video with their own spin on the trend. In June 2019, TikTok  introduced the hashtag #EduTok, which had 37 billion views, as an example of the app's trending success. As a result of this growth, the firm began forming relationships with edtech startups in order to generate educational material for the app. TikTok has built a system for individuals to generate material for monetary gain as well as entertainment. Because the platform has evolved dramatically in recent years, it has enabled businesses to use influencer marketing to promote and quickly reach their target population. The platform's AI technology, which selects material based on the user's preferences, also boosts to the influencer marketing potential. Although sponsored content is not as common on the app as it is on on other social media platforms, companies and influencers may still earn the same or more, than they do on other social media channels. "Meme machines" are influencers on the network who make money through interaction, such as likes and comments.

Impact 

     With social media on the rise these days the decline of favorable mental health has come in tandem. Even thought TikTok has many wonderful qualities and opportunities for its users it comes as no surprise that this social media app had its down falls. In February 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Mental-health professionals around the country are growing increasingly concerned about the effects on teen girls of posting sexualized TikTok videos. Not only can people’s bodies be exploited on this app but so can their information In September 2021, the Ireland Data Protection Commissioner opened investigations into TikTok concerning protection of minors' data and transfers of personal data to China so On 6 August, Trump signed two executive orders banning U.S. "transactions" with TikTok but these bans were ultimately dismissed. Yes there are some negative sides to this app but also a lot of good has come from this virtual playground. The biggest impact that this app has had is the ability for its users to potentially “blow up” on the app and become “TikTok famous.” This has helped content creators to grow their brand and (as I previously mentioned) be able to get payed for their videos. One recent story of a creator “blowing up” comes from Zach Montana, he played an old song of his dad’s on the app and people loved it! With the original video reaching 3.2 million views and the hashtag #dadsong blowing up over night he was able to help his dad re-record his song and release it which already has over a million streams on Spotify. The song even caught the attention of some music artists such as Megan Trainor and the music direction team at Marvel Studios meaning his dad’s song could potentially be in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, and all of this is thanks to TikTok. This app is the perfect platform for unexpected vitality just as Zach showed us and the world.

Zach Montana

TikTok is truly an astonishing technological creation of our generation that will be around for years to come. Though TikTok may have it’s negatives I believe that it has some amazing positives, it allows people to be who they are, do what they love, and make others laugh in the process. Personally, TikTok gives me the courage to be my true self and put myself out there more as well as find others that I can relate to. TikTok has also helped me learn a lot, even in a 15 second video I can acquire new information about a multitude of subjects that supports me in becoming a more well rounded person. This is the new wave of technology so get out from under that rock and start your TikTok stardom!