Do you know what TikTok is? Learn its story! Today, it’s hard to find someone who has never heard of the TikTok app.
An app that seemed to come out of nowhere and has been hugely successful among thousands of young people around the world.
Today, we’re going to learn more about the history of this app, which is among the most downloaded in the world.
So first, let’s understand what this platform is all about and how it works. TikTok is a mix of an app and a social network focused on sharing short videos, up to 15 seconds long.
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These videos are usually accompanied by music, often hit songs, and are edited in various ways to make them increasingly appealing.
The app also allows people to create duets, made up of two videos from different users, which are most often musical duets or creative interactions between videos.
Another popular format is reactions, where users record videos reacting to other people’s videos.
In this context, the video options are extremely varied, appealing to all audiences, from music content, games, funny videos, trends, and gastronomy to educational and scientific content.
As a result, although its audience is mainly made up of young people, TikTok is becoming increasingly popular and attracting users of all possible ages.
The history of TikTok
The origin of this app dates back to China, in September 2016, with the launch of its original local version, called Douyin, meaning “vibrant sound,” which, even without expanding beyond its home country, managed to reach the mark of more than one billion video views per day.
In addition, the company responsible for developing this app is ByteDance, founded in Beijing in 2012, and today considered one of the most valuable private companies in the entire market.
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The company also has other successful apps, such as Toutiao, a personalized news and content app, and Feiliao, also known as Flipchat, which combines a messaging app with a social network.
The company also developed Topbuzz, a content platform that was even launched in Brazil.
In September 2017, that same company launched the TikTok platform internationally, gaining rapid acceptance and causing a boom in the Chinese market with the services available on the platform.
As for the Western market, the app took a little longer, but it became popular because it filled the gap left by Vine, which had a somewhat similar proposal to TikTok’s, but was soon overshadowed by the new app as interest shifted to other social networks, such as Instagram.
After Vine’s decline, another Chinese app was launched with a similar proposal, but with a greater focus on music, called Musical.ly, which was soon acquired by ByteDance in November 2017.
As a result, in August 2018, since the two platforms seemed similar, the Chinese company completed the app’s acquisition and merged the proposals of both apps, giving rise to TikTok, and from then on the app exploded in popularity.
Finally, the app is available for practically all device systems, such as iOS , Android, and web; just download it to start using it.
