If you have come across the recent online trends like Renagade dance covers and pass the brush challenge, you have not been living under a rock! Chances are, you have also heard about almost everyone’s app of the moment--TikTok.
How did TikTok come about?
TikTok’s popularity did not grow from scratch. The app was previously Musical.ly, which ByteDance acquired in 2018. They migrated the accounts of Musical.ly’s 200 million users to TikTok. The social media sensation that we know of today definitely had a mile-long headstart audience-wise.
If the name does not ring a bell, Musical.ly is a similar short video sharing platform where they have a database of songs that users could lipsync to. It was first launched in 2014 but the app’s run was short-lived as it was soon bought by ByteDance.
ByteDance, a China-based company, combined Musical.ly and China’s own lip-synching app, Douyin. Putting together the fun functions of each app—music and dubs—now you have a fraction of what TikTok is all about.
What is TikTok?
Basically, TikTok is an app for making and sharing short videos.
It is a social media platform that allows its users to stream and share short videos, ranging from 15 seconds to a full minute, of themselves lip-syncing, acting, and dancing.
TikTok is home to some standard lip-syncing, it is actually better known for its act-out memes backed by music and other sound clips, which get endlessly reproduced and remixed. TikTok lets its users get as creative as they can.
The rise of TikTokers
TikTokers are essentially the viewers and content creators of Tiktok.
Tiktokers are composed of creative millennials and GenZs who are so generous with reactions to content — likes, shares, and comments — so videos easily take off reaching hundreds of thousands of views much faster than other platforms.
How is TikTok content different from other social media platforms?
TikTok like any other social media platform lets its users interactively share information, ideas, and other interests where people discover new things. But apart from this, Tiktok’s edge is that it lets its users engage with others on a more personal level.
TikTok is a platform where it is an extension of yourself that you could develop and explore in a creative way. It is not just a form of entertainment but a platform where creativity can be honed.
It is also a space where every TikToker is a content creator. One defining element of TikTok that it can proudly claim as its own is the built-in editing feature—a space where you can combine music and videos. TikTok clips only last for 15 seconds to a full minute, but they’re more difficult to create than it seems.
Unlike other social media platforms where it is just a source of information, TikTokers are proactive users that generate their own material. In other words, TikTok is a creative space that essentially makes everyone a video content creator.
All about TikTok content
There is more to TikTok than being this DIY video machine, home of viral dance trends, challenges, and lip-sync videos. Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok also carries the biggest trend culture.
Its trend culture started with the latest and biggest dance crazes that we know of. But now, it has transitioned to YouTube-like hunt for the next new thing.
Trends can be easily recreated because all the effects, transitions, and songs are available for everyone. The user can tweak it a bit to it make it more personal. It is like putting your own spin on trends.
TikTok content creators now also showcase general life hacks like fashion and beauty hacks, fitness and workout tips, instructional videos on baking, and other how-to videos.
They are empowered to do all of these because they have all sorts of native tools at their disposal: applying filters, editing transitions, and adding video effects and sound.
We are transitioning into a digital space where anyone and everyone has a chance to become content creators—and that’s pretty powerful.
The types of contents on TikTok that get hundreds of thousands of views
There is a wide variety of content on TikTok that is much more diverse than just dance trends. Videos range from seemingly snarky comedic skits inspired by real-life scenarios to lifestyle videos on fashion, beauty, and food, that aren’t just the “show and tell” format you’d find on YouTube.
There are a few running themes on what makes TikTok videos become trends. The top theme we are seeing is humor. Vine found its way to TikTok and funny videos get more views and shares because it is entertaining.
Life and beauty hack videos that have an element of surprise or something unexpected also has a higher chance of going viral because people watch them more than once.
Overall, relatability plays a big part in what will and will not become a trend. What works on TikTok is creating content that people can easily resonate with. Especially when the viewers can easily recreate which have an element of fun, surprise, and a track that is both catchy and of-the-moment.
