What is TikTok?

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Every few years, a new app redefines the way we use social media. 2020 seems to be the year of TikTok, but what is TikTok? Kids and young people love it, others think it's a waste of time, but there's no denying its popularity.

Whether we like it or not, there is a huge migration happening with social media as new platforms capture the spirit of the culture. They offer newer and more unique ways to interact.

Mass adoption of new social media platforms flows through continuous cycles. From Myspace in 2005, to Facebook in 2008, and then to Instagram (with a brief Snapchat interlude) in about 2014. The move to a new clinical nurse specialist email database platform is always reluctant, but eventually, the popularity of the platform compels us all to join in.

In 2020, TikTok is the new contender for the throne. A mix of music, lip-syncing and micro-video content.

In this post we will see:

TikTok statistics for 2020
Who invented TikTok?
Who uses TikTok?
Entertainment in short versions
Variety is the spice of life
What is the key to TikTok's success?
How are brands using TikTok?
How to advertise on TikTok?
Can you make money on TikTok?
TikTok Chart

TikTok Apple Store

TikTok statistics for 2020
- By the end of 2019, TikTok's user base had reached 800 million. It is estimated to reach over 1 billion users by 2020.

- Nearly 50% of TikTok's global audience is under the age of 34. 26% of all TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24.

- The TikTok app has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times worldwide.

- TikTok app's reach is global: 466 million are from India, 173 million from China, and 123 million from the US.

- The average user spends 52 minutes per day on the TikTok app (data prior to the Covid-19 pandemic)

- Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok, is valued at $75 million, making it the most valuable startup in the world.

- TikTok reports it has more than 60 million monthly active users in the United States, of which 60% are women and 40% are men.

Who invented TikTok?
In 2014, a social media app called Musical.ly (pronounced Musical-ly) became incredibly popular among the 13-18 year old demographic. The primary purpose of Musical.ly was user-generated videos that combined popular songs with videos from users (often called Musers). The most popular use of the app was creating lip-syncing and dancing videos. As of mid-2017, the Musical.ly app had over 200 million users.

In 2016, Chinese app developer ByteDance created an app called Douyin, a rival to Musical.ly. Initially launched only in China, the app was rebranded to TikTok for better international appeal. Within a year, the TikTok app had over 100 million users.

In late 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly for $800 million. In 2018, Bytedance consolidated the user accounts of Musical.ly and TikTok, merging the two apps under the TikTok name.

With this unified brand and user base, the app started to increase its popularity very quickly. TikTok became the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store in early 2018, surpassing Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube. As of July 2019, TikTok already had over 500 million total installs on the Google Play Store.

Who uses TikTok?
TikTok is called Douyin in China, and currently has a user base of over 250 million. In the rest of the world, the app is called TikTok and is available in 154 countries around the world.

Currently, 40% of TikTok users are located outside of China. India has a particularly large user base, accounting for about 25% of app downloads to date. As of March 2019, TikTok’s user base in the U.S. was approximately 14 million.

The 2019 Internet Trends Report revealed that Chinese internet users spent more than 600 million hours watching short videos.

Of course, not all TikTok users have the confidence, bandwidth, or skills to create videos. Much like many of YouTube’s viewers who are lurking, simply looking for exciting content to consume, some TikTokers also have a more passive attitude toward using the app.

In fact, TikTokers don’t even need to follow anyone. They can simply open their app, go to their “Discover” page, and start playing videos that they find interesting or entertaining. They can even search for videos on their favorite topics using relevant hashtags.

However, over time, most TikTok users will like specific types of videos and are likely to subscribe to channels that regularly share “their” types of videos. Every TikToker has a profile page, and this highlights the videos they have uploaded.