What is Tik-Tok and Why You Should Consider Downloading It
What do you get when the multi-billion-dollar internet technology company Bytedance acquires a lip-syncing video short platform, Musical.ly, and merges it with its own video-sharing social media service? You get Tik-Tok, the short-form music video-sharing app that boasted over 500 million users worldwide before the addition of Musical.ly. But what’s Tik-Tok really all about and why should you consider downloading it to your app collection?
Did You Say More Than 500 Million Users?
If the sheer volume of users is an indicator of an app’s download worthiness, consider that Tik-Tok was the most downloaded app in 2019, second only to WhatsApp and coming in before Instagram. Some reports calculate a whopping 1.5 billion active users of the platform. Still, if you’re older than age 24, you might not be familiar with the increasingly popular mobile app that allows users to essentially become content creators in a 15 to 60-second video set to your choice of music. While Musical.ly was more of a lip-sync video app, Tik-Tok has been compared to Twitter’s former even shorter-form video app, Vine, which featured 6-second video clips that were not necessarily musically driven. Some music industry executives have dubbed Tik-Tok as the “short-form version of YouTube.”
User Friendly
But the app offers even more versatility when it comes to creating meme-worthy clips of all kinds. Why? One reason is the easy video editing that the platform provides. Similar to the way Instagram turned the masses into photographers with an easy to use mobile platform, Tik-Tok gives users access to professional audio, filters, and simple video editing tools that allow you to create content with virtually endless options. You’ll find everything from dentists making retainers to the song from Stranger Things and a video of surgery on a banana.
Publishing Content in a Unique Way
Another unique feature of Tik-Tok lies in its algorithm. When you upload a video to Tik-Tok, it will be shown to a small sampling of users in between popular videos, reportedly so that the user does not get bored. Tik-Tok uses artificial intelligence (AI) to measures the percentage of your video watched by the initial group. It also measures how many likes, comments, and shares your video receives. Your video will be shown to more people based on the percentage of your video that gets watched, likes, comments, etc. Some users believe that for every 1 like out of 10 views, your video distribution grows.
But the real point is that videos are not pushed because of an influencer or any other reason. The algorithm determines how “good” your video is, making it possible for anyone to go viral on Tik-Tok, making instant fame a real possibility.
Tik-Tok Isn’t Just for the Kids
It’s safe to say that pretty much all social media platforms began with a target demographic of young people. But even though 60% of active Tik-Tok users in the U.S. are between 16 and 24, the app is growing in popularity with people of all ages. Many tech and media industry insiders believe it will continue to “scale older” and to a wider audience of all ages, just as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have.
Why Should You Consider Downloading Tik-Tok?
For one thing, it’s literally just plain fun. In a world filled with all things digital, matched by a waning consumer attention span, there is something addictive about Tik-Tok’s world of video memes and short skits. If you’re looking for an audience and the kind of mass exposure that’s hard to find anywhere else, Tik-Tok offers all that and then some.
It’s also a platform for a perfectly, imperfect mesh of music and video that takes creativity to a whole new level. So, whether you want your audience to see your cat rock out to the latest Post Malone, or you’re trying to get your own voice out there, Tik-Tok can be a useful platform for both. And if you’re one of the people who dream about a future in the world of multimedia and broadcasting, it’s also a great platform for learning about what makes any viral media go viral in the first place.
If you’d like to learn more about a career in multimedia or broadcasting, contact us today at the International School of Broadcasting. With a variety of programs to choose from, we’re training the next generation for careers in audio engineering, video production, broadcasting and more! Call now for more information or click to schedule a campus tour.