The rise of short video sharing apps
Amid a global pandemic that has forced millions of people to rely almost entirely on their smartphones for entertainment, short video sharing app TikTok has quietly risen to the top of the world's technology rankings.
ByteDance (China) launched TikTok - the international version of the Douyin video app in 2017. After only 3 years, TikTok has become the most downloaded app after many years of Facebook's dominance. According to data from mobile analytics company App Annie, in March 2020 alone, TikTok recorded a record number, when users spent more time on this social network than in the Stone Age: 2.8 billion hours, equivalent to nearly 320,000 years. Last month, TikTok became the first app not owned by Facebook to surpass the 3 billion download mark.
After 4 years of launch, TikTok surpassed Facebook and Instagram to become the most downloaded application in the world.
According to data from Sensor Tower, TikTok is now part of the lifestyle of more than 2 billion users worldwide, most of whom are Gen Z (those born between 1995 and 2012). According to Datareportal 2020, of the 800 million TikTok accounts worldwide, 41% of users are Gen Z.
TikTok’s 15-second short videos have truly revolutionized content creation globally. We’ve all heard of TikTok, even if we’ve never used it, through a variety of means, from word of mouth to the media and advertising blitz of the past year. For example, at the recent Euros, TikTok’s logo dominated almost all the billboards on the field.
TikTok billboards appeared during most matches at Euro 2020.
Repeating the golden age of Facebook?
TikTok’s explosion is also reminiscent of the rise of another app more than a decade ago. With 732 million monthly active users, TikTok is the app of the present and clearly the app of the future. Or, in other words,TikTok is the new Facebook.
Facebook has been a constant presence in the history of the internet, from its quick, ubiquitous logins to the occasional reminder to change your profile picture. Facebook has always had a strong presence in the tech industry. Mark Zuckerberg has spent the past decade tinkering with every option in the app in an effort to keep users using his app. He even bought Instagram and WhatsApp, transforming Facebook from a simple app that could only post photos and send messages into a multi-purpose social network that caters to all of its users' interests, from selling, to creating meeting rooms, to playing games, to even... dating.
TikTok's explosion recalls the rise of Facebook more than a decade ago.
But in the past two years, Zuckerberg has also recognized the rise of a competitor and its risk to Facebook's already solid power - that is TikTok. In fact, users spend more time on TikTok, and of course, other "old" social networks have significantly reduced visits and usage time.
One of the most obvious reasons to affirmTikTok is the new FacebookIt was a policy change in May: ByteDance officially launched TikTok login, which will allow third-party app developers to log into their apps using their TikTok accounts. In other words, TikTok is set to become a portal to the rest of the internet. While users can already log into Spotify, Pinterest, and hundreds of other apps and websites with their Facebook accounts, TikTok will soon be able to do the same.
Ambition to rewrite the rules of global social networking
TikTok could usher in an era where Asia leads the tech industry. Just as Facebook has shaped the internet, how people interact, access, and even their attitudes toward personal data over the past 20 years, TikTok has the potential to do the same over the next 20 years.
If before, TikTok only allowed videos no longer than 15 or 60 seconds, now the duration has been increased to 3 minutes. If before TikTok was simply a mobile application, now users can watch videos through a web browser or connect to a smart TV. If before TikTok only allowed a single format of video, now it has integrated live streaming. When shopping through e-commerce platforms becomes a trend, TikTok also allows users to make purchases through the application. Or TikTok Stories, an idea learned from the Stories feature on Instagram, is also about to be launched by TikTok. Surely, things do not stop here.
It is the combination of many functions of other popular applications such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Vine that has made TikTok increasingly popular. Although it is considered a "copycat", TikTok does one thing best: creating a user-friendly combination. With the dense appearance of this video application, it is undeniable that TikTok is gradually shaping and re-establishing the rules of social networking around the world.
Entertainment and dancing are the most popular content groups on TikTok.
"Liked" by Vietnamese users, is TikTok safe?
Officially launched in Vietnam at the end of April 2019, TikTok quickly became one of the most popular social networks among users. In the recent ranking of popular applications in the Vietnamese market, TikTok ranked 4th, right after Facebook, Zalo and Instagram.
However, whether or not to “play” TikTok is still a controversial topic, especially when this application is involved in many scandals about information security and privacy. In 2020, TikTok was boycotted in many countries such as the US, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.
There have also been numerous security allegations that TikTok is Chinese spyware that steals data from users’ devices and sends it to the Chinese government. While the allegations have not been substantiated, TikTok or ByteDance has shown certain privacy violations. In early June, TikTok was sued for secretly collecting biometric data from minor users without their consent. ByteDance later paid $92 million to settle the lawsuit. Previously, TikTok was also accused of secretly collecting information from millions of children in Europe for the benefit of unidentified third parties.
Be thoughtful and smart when participating in TikTok, as well as any social network, to ensure your safety.
TikTok works like a real machine with very high precision, "scanning" users' interests quickly. Just like that, you can sit for hours on TikTok without getting bored. But if you find everything on TikTok fun, harmless and without any precautions, then it seems you are a bit... carefree with this application. Because of the way videos are spontaneously suggested, unpredictable, what will "trend" today and then "go viral" widely the next day, this social network still has risks. Some dangers are challenging TikTok every day such as: "toxic" challenges that entice users to follow, content that promotes sex, the presence of perverts, the problem of being bullied online...
Remember, no one is responsible for what you experience in the virtual space. So, consider and be smart when participating in TikTok, as with any social network, to protect your safety.
