You may have heard about the social video platform that's making headlines. So, what is Tik Tok and how did it become so popular? Tik Tok is very similar to Vine. It is a platform for people to express themselves through short videos. Tik Tok wants to redefine online communication by introducing online communication through video.
Twitter is a text-based social network, Instagram is a picture-based social network, and Tik Tok is a video-based social network. Vine has tried this before and failed.
That said, let's look at 4 important things about Tik Tok.
Start in China
Tik Tok, or Douyin in Chinese, was launched in late 2016 in China. Soon after, in early 2017, Tik Tok received millions of investment funds and began to spread throughout Asia. There were speculations that Tik Tok was seeking to challenge Tencent's monopoly on Chinese social media and online presence. Tencent is a Chinese online product and service technology giant. It is involved in almost all free online PC games and many social networking applications.
It is best known for its social media application Wechat. Since the launch of Tik Tok, Tencent and Tik Tok have been at each other's throats. Wechat has a feature that allows users to send short videos to their friends or share them on their story. With the advent of Tik Tok, it completely took away Wechat's dominance in social media video sharing.
Duet
The infamous duet feature is where other users make a response video to the original video. Tik Tok then plays both videos side by side. This has led to some creative videos, such as the person in the original video lip-syncing or dancing with the person in the response video.
However, it quickly became a tool for online trolls. Users made fun of the original video with their response videos. For example, users hit their phone camera to create the illusion that they were hitting the person in the original video. "Trolls" gave Tik Tok even more attention, and therefore its popularity grew.
Google searches for what is Tik Tok skyrocketed in 2018; however, Tik Tok is unlikely to remain for long. Vine and Musical.ly predate Tik Tok, but they all share the same concept, which instead uses video for communication. However, despite the concept targeting the shorter attention span of millennials and revolutionizing the way we communicate, it simply doesn't make enough money. Additionally, such platforms have inherent problems. This led to the closure of Vine and Musical.ly, despite their popularity and huge user base.
Acquisition of musical.ly
In late 2017, Tik Tok acquired Musical.ly for approximately $1 billion. This acquisition opened up the international market for Tik Tok and was one of the main reasons why it became so popular. Unlike TikTok, Musical.ly targeted the international teen market. At the time of the acquisition, Musical.ly already had a huge user base and a concrete marketing strategy.
They did not have to waste time and resources to penetrate the international market. Tik Tok basically spent $1 billion to cater to the international market. After the acquisition, Tik Tok was heavily promoted on different platforms to make more people aware that it became the new Musical.ly/Vine.
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