Tik-Tok Climbing to World's #1 App
Phone in hand, opening on TikTok main screen to watch/create content
By: Alyssa Serbak, Duquesne University
The World’s Most Addictive App Becoming the Most Popular in the World Above Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and More
Who would have thought that an app that gives you short, ten second videos would soon become the world’s most popular domain and one of the highest paying influencer apps on the market. Tik-Tok was created back in September of 2016 (Google) and has been growing rapidly in popularity since then. During the pandemic in 2020, Tik-Tok became the World’s source of entertainment, fun and created new celebrities for generation Z to admire. Being stuck at home with your main family members for weeks at a time had to be a living nightmare. Tik-Tok kept the entertainment at home going with new trends to make with your family every couple of days. From the Blinding Lights trend by the Weekend, or making the famous Tik-Tok whipped coffee, Tik-Tok was able to provide and grow in popularity simply from people having nothing else to do with themselves (studybreaks.com).
Quarantine…
During this time of being stuck at home with nothing else to do, Tik-Tok helped many people emerge and actually get famous. It’s crazy to think that something so silly and simple as posting dancing videos or making fluffy coffee could lead you to making millions. Tik-Tok’s algorithm is important to know, for taking advantage of it can make you the next Charli D’Amelio. Tik-Tok takes videos that you make and puts them out to audiences that have liked other videos similar to yours in the past. If people like your video, the more people that Tik-Tok will push your video out to for more and more people to see, and the more likes, comes the more followers, and the more followers, the more money! Tik-Tok has allowed thousands of people to quit their jobs, drop out of school, and become full time content creators at ages as young as 14. Tik-Tok can pay anywhere between 2-4 cents per 1,000 views on a video (Hashmi). This may not seem like a lot but have a couple videos blow up and gain a couple thousand followers, the next thing you know that 2-4 cents per video can turn into $20-$40 per video. Then, boom... you’re famous!
2022 Possiblities
Tik-Tok has surpassed other domains such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even Apple to become the world’s most popular domain by the end of 2021 (Forbes). The possibilities that come with Tik-Tok are endless. From marketing yourself, or a company, or any certain skills of yours, Tik-Tok has opportunities that could change your life and last a lifetime. I mean, we mise well take advantage of it considering how much time people spend on their phones daily, why not put it for something beneficial?!
Graph above shows Time spent on mobile devices everyday in the United States from 2014 to 2021 in minutes