A phenomenon called TikTok. Do you know everything about it?

It is for this reason that we have decided to bring you a summary of some important information that will introduce you to this modern platform in all its glory.

What TikTok is for

TikTok is an app designed for iOS and Android. It was developed by ByteDance in 2016 and introduced to Chinese users as Douyin. A year later, the company decided to expand into the foreign market with a different name, TikTok.

TikTok is primarily for creating short videos (15 seconds), sharing or simply watching others' content.

A platform that offers what users want

A new mobile app gives young people exactly what they want, entertainment. It offers a simple user interface that is easy to understand for growing children and a store-unencumbered environment.

Musical.ly (2014), a Shanghai-based app, was once based on a similar principle. It gained such popularity with its fans that it was eventually bought by Toutiao (a subsidiary of ByteDance) for $1 billion and implemented into TikTok - instant growth of millions of users was guaranteed.

Faster than Facebook or Instagram

Since 2017, TikTok has managed to compete with giants like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Currently, it has about 800 million active users worldwide making it one of the top 10 most popular apps in the world. It took Facebook nearly four years and Instagram six years to reach that number of monthly users.

The high growth of the mobile app's fans is mainly due to Asian countries such as Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Cambodia. And in the US, for example, 46 million people downloaded TikTok last year.

Young users have the most fun

Statistics tell us that TikTok is most popular among people aged 16 to 24. But thanks to the coronavirus crisis, it has also found popularity among the older generation between 20 and 29. In the Czech Republic, its popularity is growing most among girls aged 13 to 18.

How long does TikTok take

According to available surveys, we know that users spend about 40-50 minutes per day with TikTok. So on average, the same as Facebook or Instagram. But the app is much more lively compared to the two mentioned above and people are sharing and creating content more intensively.

TikTok and influencers

TikTok is breaking down entrenched systems even in terms of algorithms. Instead of gradually building your profile as a user and watching your fans (likes) grow over time, you can upload one video on TikTok and have hundreds of thousands of followers the next day. In the end, this means that a video by a complete newbie can become an absolute viral hit overnight.

People who want to pitch their business on TikTok can turn to TikTok For Business from June 2020, and a new Creator Marketplace platform is already being tested to discover creators for advertising campaigns.

US wants to shut down TikTok, India already has

As we mentioned in our article today, TikTok is experiencing its biggest boom with the Asian population. Especially Indians. But the app has been banned in India in late June/July 2020. According to a statement from the government there, it "harms India's sovereignty and integrity, Indian defence, national security and public order."

Not much time has passed and the controversy over TikTok has not escaped the U.S.. According to the US president, the app poses a risk and he intends to ban it from mid-September. But the life of TikTok may not be completely lost. Microsoft has in fact said it would buy the US portion of the app.

Along with Microsoft's intention, debate about TikTok's value has become rife. This has been estimated by some investors at about US$50 billion. As a result, Microsoft could end up paying as much as US$30 billion for TikTok in the US.

The popularity ranking of soc. Networks according to Datareportal:

• Facebook (more than 2.5 billion)
• YouTube (2 billion)
• WhatsApp (2 billion)
• Facebook manager (more than 1 billion)
• WeChat - China's replacement for WhatsApp (more than 1 billion)
• Instagram (1 billion)
• TikTok (800 million)