The Time is Up For Tik Tok
photo courtesy of freepik.com
Remember the good old days of Vine, Musical.ly, or even Triller? These social video apps had such a strong hold over us when they were at their peak, but now they’re things of the past. What’s the new fad media app that’s destined to come to an end like the rest? If you don’t know at this point, you’re surely living under a rock. It’s Tik Tok.
When Vine was discontinued in 2016, many members of the younger generations were heartbroken. Ever since, media companies have been racing to fill the void of viewers by creating similar apps and programs for new video media stars to form. This has led to the evolution of Tik Tok.
Tik Tok was developed by the Chinese company ByteDance in early 2016. It was later released to the international market in 2017. Soon after, ByteDance absorbed Musical.ly into Tik Tok. Over the past year, Tik Tok has exploded and is becoming a prominent social media platform. But how long will this obsession over Tik Tok really last?
Moriah Humiston, a sophomore at Syracuse University, is a huge fan of Tik Tok and claims that the app certainly has a future.
“There’s a ton of different content that’s on it,” Humiston said, “there’s dancing content, there’s creative editing content and there’s even content from companies and news organizations so they can help promote a story or their business.”
Many Gen Zer’s would agree with Humiston.
“They should make videos longer and start making more functions for categories rather than just base the content they show you off the algorithm they’ve created.”
Humiston believes Tik Tok is here to stay and that it will have a permanent future as a major social video platform. Bridget Mahoney, another sophomore here at Syracuse University, argues otherwise.
“I think the app isn’t user friendly. It’s just like vine and look what happened to that. If anything, creators should bring vine back.”
Some other students feel uncomfortable about making Tik Tok accounts due to the foreignness of the Chinese company and data circulation.
Vine was the heart and soul of social media videos in the early 2010s. Huge stars like Shawn Mendes, Cameron Dallas, and Jake Paul got their start on Vine according to Teen Vogue. Vine created new celebrities and content in a way social media consumers never saw before. Tik Tok is trying to do the same thing, but if something as amazing as vine couldn’t last, what makes anyone think Tik Tok can? Do you think Tik Tok is the future of social media? Only time will tell.