By Anu Joy
Updated
A popular social media app that invites controversy
TikTok is a video-sharing app that lets you view and create content using filters, sound effects, and background music. It has been rising in popularity since its launch in 2016. The app has cemented its position as one of the most influential platforms in the world. Don't be surprised if you catch yourself endlessly scrolling through short videos for hours on your favorite camera phone.
TikTok's popularity leads to many questions about its origins. How did this video-sharing app become popular? And why is there so much controversy surrounding it?
You can access TikTok on a web browser, but the common way to use it is to download the app on a smart device. You can find it on the App Store and the Google Play Store. Most smart devices are compatible. If you've yet to embrace the platform's addictive short-form videos, check out our TikTok guide to learn how to set up and use the app.
It's common to see someone mindlessly watching TikTok videos when they have some downtime. You'll find silly memes, carefully crafted science communication, and everything in between. Anyone with an account can post videos or engage with content on the app. The result is that a variety of communities have formed. As with many social media platforms, TikTok's positive and negative impacts are widely debated.
How did TikTok become so popular?
Along with Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, TikTok occupies an area of short-form media that's experiencing an explosion of attention. TikTok claims it had over one billion global monthly active users in 2022. That's good for the sixth most popular social media website. How did TikTok achieve such popularity?
Many point to Vine as the pioneer of this space that TikTok dominates. Vine was a similarly structured social media platform that took the online world by storm from 2013 to 2016. When Vine shut down in 2016, it left a void. That's when TikTok (originally named Douyin) was released in the Chinese market by the company ByteDance. The app quickly grew in popularity and received an international release for iOS and Android in 2017.
ByteDance acquired the Musical.ly app for nearly $1 billion in late 2017. It shuttered Musical.ly in 2018 and merged existing accounts and data into TikTok. Since then, TikTok has continued to grow and gain relevance in pop culture.
TikTok is not new to controversy
TikTok isn't without criticism or controversy. Several countries have banned it for periods of time. Many critics are concerned about how it handles user data and interacts with international politics. Other criticisms focus on how the content style influences young and impressionable audiences. There are also concerns about difficulties regulating the spread of misinformation.
Many organizations and governments, including the US, have considered banning TikTok. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned TikTok in June 2020, and a handful of other countries have done so permanently or temporarily. TikTok was banned on most federally-owned devices in the US in late 2022, and many states have adopted similar bans. While former President Donald Trump failed to enact a TikTok ban in 2020, legislators may ban TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, from doing business in the US.
What is the TikTok algorithm?
The TikTok algorithm is a system that decides which videos to recommend on your For You page. It suggests content based on user interaction, device and account settings, and video information.
TikTok's recommendation system checks the accounts you follow, the videos you like or share, and the type of content you create. It ranks videos according to the likelihood of your interest in the content and serves them on your For You page.
How to navigate TikTok
You'll see a menu bar at the bottom when you launch TikTok on your phone. Videos include buttons to like, comment, save, and share the content on the right side of the screen.
Here's how to navigate the TikTok app:
- Home: Tap Following to view content from people you follow. Select the For You page to check out trending content suggested by TikTok's algorithm.
- Discover: Open the page to search for trending hashtags, users, videos, or songs.
- Create video: Access the video recorder and make a TikTok.
- Inbox: Show notifications about likes, comments, mentions, DMs, and new followers.
- Profile: Edit your profile and change your app's settings.
How to make a TikTok
Here's how to create a TikTok video:
- Launch TikTok and log in to your account.
- Tap the +icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the red circle to start recording or select Upload to use a pre-recorded video.
- Select Effects to add various elements to your video.
- Tap Add sound to include music from the song library.
- Add text, stickers, voice effects, a voiceover, and filters to your video.
- Tap Next after you finish editing.
- Add a description and hashtags.
- Select Post.
A simple premise with massive influence
It's hard to predict TikTok's future and the surrounding controversy. The only sure thing is that this video-sharing platform is addictive and takes up a lot of time. You can create content and get more followers on TikTok. But, if you feel like you're getting overwhelmed, delete your TikTok account.
