I am sure that almost everyone in our class knows about the social media app, TikTok. The app allows for creating, posting, and sharing videos that can range from a couple of seconds to a whole minute. The app is a creativity hub that doesn’t limit itself to any particular type post. Any user can create a comedic video, a sing along video, modeling with music in the background, tutorials, etc.. One of the best parts of the app is the wide variety of people who use it. The app has over 1.4 billion downloads and people make tons of videos every single day. TikTok users range from young children, making videos of themselves singing along to songs, all the way to middle aged men and women who are making comedy skits. The app has gotten so popular that people are gaining fame from the app. People are going viral for posting videos of them pranking teachers, and the app only seems to grow in popularity everyday.
Some communities have started to accept the popularity that comes with TikTok. Students at some universities and campuses are starting to create TikTok clubs. Who wouldn’t want to join a club to make videos that potentially millions of people could watch? At West Orange High School the TikTok club creates a safe environment for people to have fun and work creatively together. The club is proud to boast having several members become “TikTok Famous.” The term carries huge weight in the TikTok community. Members of the club estimate that at least twenty students have become “TikTok Famous.” The valedictorian of West Orange High School last year went viral for a TikTok about Minecraft. TikTok is a big deal. People love the app for so many different types of entertainment.
I am a huge fan of social media, but what makes these apps so incredibly addicting? Especially with social media that has the diversity of TikTok. People can post serious videos of them talking to the camera or there can be a series of jokes with a weird audio clip playing in the background. Is that why this app can grow to be so large? Lots of people are downloading TikTok, because it appeals to lots of different groups of people. My biggest question is: Is TikTok a good thing? TikTok was created by the company, “ByteDance”, an artificial intelligence company worth over $75 Billion. ByteDance might have finally cracked the code on to get people addicted to social media platforms. These gigantic social media platforms try so hard to make sure their users want to look at their apps all the time. In 2017 the app Musical.ly merged with TikTok under the parent company ByteDance. In case you don’t know Musical.ly was the company that received the largest penalty ever given by the Federal Trade Commission. The penalty was for mishandling private data of young users. Shocker. ByteDance’s website states, “ByteDance’s content platforms enable people to enjoy content powered by AI technology.” The company is centered around technology recording every single thing you do on the TikTok app. The AI learns what you like to watch or send to other people, and it shows you as much of that content as possible. This is obviously not new information. Websites and companies have been doing this for years, but TikTok really wants you to stay on the app. TikTok will send you daily notifications if you don’t log on. TikTok videos are reposted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all the time, so you can’t ever escape it. TikTok is interesting because it doesn’t at all try to hide that fact that it wants you to be using the app. It will send you as many videos as it takes for you to stay on the app. Usually the app convinces the user to stay on for hours if they are young children. Is TikTok just another way for people to share experiences and interact online, or is it the next in a long line of social media apps to control your life?