Tiktok and How it Draws The Teen Audience

TikTok, a social networking platform aimed at teenage mobile phone users, was the world’s second-most downloaded app in 2019. In July 2020, it was the most downloaded app. The phone-only app allows users to record themselves dancing or goofing off to music or spoken-word clips, then edit the footage with various effects. Despite its seeming frivolity, young people have used the platform to convey political messages, arrange political events, and hang out in an online world devoid of grownups.

How does it work?

Each TikTok is a 3 to 60-second video that loops once completed. The video that the user submitted takes up the majority of the screen. The app’s filter and video-distorting effects collection is similar to Instagram filters, but for video. The audio file that goes with the video is described at the bottom of the screen. These “sounds” can be submitted by the user or selected from a library of popular sounds. This library includes professional musician song excerpts and goofy recordings of people talking. 

You swipe up to go to the next TikTok. Swipe right to reveal the account that uploaded the current TikTok. The screen of a smartphone displays thumbnails of video clips.

How it stacks up

When TikTok is compared to other digital media platforms, it becomes clear what distinguishes it. TikTok, like YouTube, is entirely made up of videos. The primary manner of accessing TikTok, like Facebook and Twitter, is via scrolling through a “feed” of short, digestible posts. The default manner of encountering content, like Netflix, is through the recommendation algorithm, not through creating “friend” or “follower” networks. TikTok, like Snapchat and Instagram, can only be made on mobile phones, which favors younger users who are more comfortable with mobile phones than computers.

Storage of information

TikTok is mainly information dense due to the combination of video media and the “feed.” Each TikTok has a lot going on, and there is an endless stream of TikTok. Unlike text, video media functions on two parallel pathways, simultaneously providing explicit and implicit information (social cues such as the TikToker’s attire and haircut or emotional effect from music). The “feed” allows a social media user to sift through numerous bite-sized pieces of content per minute, collecting information far more efficiently than a television broadcast. These tendencies, when combined, make scrolling through the “For You Page” a whirlwind experience, representing a substantial gain in information density.

TikTok alters the costs and rewards of uploading as well. On the expense front, because TikTok is created for smartphones, it is easier for some users and more difficult for others. As a general rule, the more you spend utilizing a technology in your life – and the earlier in your life cycle those years are – the more adept you become at using that technology. TikTok also promotes videos shot in the vertical orientation inherent in smartphones, allowing them to be generated wherever the user goes, anytime they have a spare moment.

In terms of advantages, the emphasis of the recommendation system over “friend” networks ensures that everyone will receive at least a few views, even if it is their first TikTok. Because of the importance of “follower” networks in determining what people view, you might log on to Twitter and tweet hundreds of times before you acquire any “likes.”

TikTok’s “For You Page” alternates between presenting users’ incredibly popular TikTok and TikTok with only a few views, fostering greater equality than traditional social networks. Overall, TikTok provides an online venue for young people who feel abnormally detached from the adult world, one in which they will almost certainly receive some attention.

Familiar sounds, unusual movements

Finally, TikTok’s “sounds” that users blend with their films provide a creative approach to categorizing and exploring a social media network. If you click on the “sound” button at the bottom of a TikTok, you will see all of the other TikTok that use that sound file. The most prominent example is a specific dance routine accompanied by an accompanying “sound.” The audio is the same across this collection of TikTok, but each user offers a unique video of themselves dancing.

TikTok memes can be seen in these dances. On more text- or picture-focused platforms, “memes” consist of a fixed “meme format” that is subsequently remixed by users who change the image or words to create a given “meme.” On TikTok, however, the raw material being remixed is the user’s body as the user executes the meme-associated activity, which I refer to as “embodied memes.”

TikTok’s body is significantly more visible than on other sites. While clever humor is essential on Twitter, TikTok favors conventionally gorgeous or otherwise stunning bodies even more than Instagram. This also implies that the identification categories becoming increasingly crucial in politics play a significant role in TikTok. Embodied memes frequently make fun of the TikToker’s race, gender, attractiveness, or location.

More traditional visual memes can appear nameless or disembodied as they circulate the internet. It’s impossible to separate the individual from the meme on TikTok.

Do News Organizations Be On TikTok?

TikTok

 

News media are cautiously experimenting with spreading the news on TikTok, a Chinese video app that has been criticized for its privacy policy and alleged censorship. “It’s a bit stereotypical to automatically assume that TikTok is reporting to the Chinese government.” So, if your news organization decided to leverage TikTok as a news channel, click here to learn more.

After barely a month, the TikTok account @checknu of NU.nl already has more than ten thousand followers – and that with only ten videos. It says something about how big the two-year-old TikTok already is. The app has 800 million users, mostly teenagers, of which 3.5 million are in the Netherlands. They upload videos with dance, singing, playback, sketches, and especially a lot of memes as their main components. An unfathomable culture for most people over twenty.

Why does a news site like NU.nl go here? ‘We are always curious about what new platforms can bring us, how we can bind a new target group to us’, says editor-in-chief Gert-Jaap Hoekman. ‘When TikTok came up in the newsroom, I said: go and try something. We are now exploring what we want to do with it.’

@checknu is aimed at teenagers, just like the eponymous account on Instagram. On the account, funny videos from the editors and more serious content alternate. A post about a ghost village in Groningen reached 724,000 users. Others are only a few thousand, such as a meme video with an editor in Sinterklaas outfit. Hoekman: ‘For the time being, it’s hit or miss. It’s an elusive platform.’

NOS Stories and NOSop3, the biggest online news providers for young people, have not yet ventured into TikTok. ‘Every new platform where our target group resides is interesting, but at TikTok, we still have to explore how we can be of value there’, says editor-in-chief of both platforms Karina ter Horst. ‘We don’t rule it out, but the plans aren’t concrete yet either.’

Criticism

In the US, there are already many more media on TikTok: including The Washington Post (315,000 followers) and The Daily Show (61,000 followers). But there’s also a lot of criticism of TikTok, and that largely focuses on the fact that the app is owned by a Chinese company: Bytedance. And china’s human rights violations and lack of press freedom are amply documented.

“Of course, you have to consider whether you can use TikTok to reach your audience, but there are more important questions, which I don’t think are being asked enough,” media professor Julie Posetti told SVDJ this week. ‘What are the risks to our privacy? Shouldn’t we fear censorship from a Chinese app that wants to dominate video journalism?

Recently, a video was removed in which an American girl denounced the situation of the Uyghurs, an oppressed ethnic minority in China. Her account was also blocked. Bytedance stated that it was a mistake and that the company would never censor topics sensitive in China. “We’ve never been asked by the government to do that and we wouldn’t do it. Period.’ Earlier, The Guardian revealed that TikTok censored content on topics like Hong Kong in the past.

And then there’s the privacy policy. TikTok was fined millions in the US because it collected data from children under the age of 13. And in the same country, the company has been sued for allegedly sharing user data with China.

 

ALSO READ: The Best Car Choice for Journalists – How to Find the Perfect New Car

 

Remarkable

Gert-Jaap Hoekman of NU.nl understands the scepticism in part. He found TikTok’s response to the removal of the Uighurs video sounded “like an easy excuse.” But he also wants to nuance the negative image. ‘It is a fast-growing company that is extra under a magnifying glass. We are not deaf to the criticism of TikTok, but I think it is too easy and perhaps unwise to do nothing with it.

Hoekman points out that Western tech giants such as Facebook are also under constant fire for privacy violations. He finds it ‘in a way remarkable’ that TikTok is extra distrusted because the parent company is Chinese. ‘Of course, the system in China is different from here, but at the same time it is also a bit stereotypical to automatically think that TikTok reports information to the government.’

Do the considerations of NOSop3/Stories still include what TikTok’s privacy policy is and that the app is owned by a Chinese company? Karina ter Horst thinks it is too early to answer that question. ‘We don’t know this company enough yet.’ In general, she can say that it is ‘healthy’ to see what kind of platform you are dealing with, what kind of content is posted, and where it comes from. ‘The subject of privacy is more relevant now than it was in the days when major media embraced Facebook. Now, when a new platform emerges, you look at it more. And perhaps also to the fact that it is Chinese, we are not used to that.’

There is already a NOS Sport account on TikTok. “We went with sports on TikTok with the sole purpose of learning how the platform works,” says deputy editor-in-chief of the broadcaster Giselle van Cann. She finds that the platform is controversial ‘reason to do it very consciously and deliberately, at the moment we are only investigating.’

Jurisdiction

Bo Zhao is a researcher at the Institute for Technology, Law, and Society of Tilburg University. Like Hoekman, he states that the criticism of TikTok also applies to Western platforms such as Facebook. To underline that the situation is not black and white, he points to the news from a few weeks ago that Apple shared browser data from Safari users with Chinese companies. ‘The collection and resale of personal data are simply inherent in the revenue model of these types of companies.’

TikTok is headquartered in Los Angeles and isn’t even available in China. Still, the app cannot be seen separately from owner Bytedance, who is located in China, says Zhao. “China has jurisdiction over Bytedance. It is not the case that TikTok is exempt from the Chinese government requesting data because it is not in China.’ But, he says: ‘For the time being, it is no more than an assumption that this is actually happening.’

He also points out that in all countries, not just China, the intelligence services monitor social media traffic. ‘You have to approach both Chinese and Western governments and data-driven companies with suspicion.’

Zhao adds that TikTok as an international company must comply with many local privacy laws, and TikTok does not yet have the legal expertise that Google and YouTube do. ‘Then things quickly go wrong. Don’t write them off because they’ve made some mistakes.” He even thinks it’s good that Western tech monopolies have a competitor. ‘Then people can compare the data policies of different providers and make a choice.’

NU.nl will soon find out whether TikTok is actually a censorship machine. As soon as a topic like the persecution of Uighurs or the protests in Hong Kong is back in the news, @checknu will post an item about it. If that were to be censored, NU.nl leave immediately, Hoekman swears. ‘Then, as an independent, free medium, you shouldn’t want to sit on it.’

 

TikTok has Officially Rolled Out the “Promote” Ad Tools for Brand and Business Owners

TikTok’ s “Promote” boost-like feature is finally available to everyone after undergoing a few months of beta testing by several selected business accounts. The “Promote” option is largely similar to Facebook’s Boost button, which gives brands and businesses the ability to augment posts with adverts.

In line with the rollout, the TikTok platform released an update of the overview in the “TikTok for Business” section. It states that the “Promote” feature gives brands and businesses the option to add their advertisements on any TikTok video or to upload their own video adverts, as means to increase and build their audience.

Although this option initially came out free during beta testing, the self-service advertising tool comes with fees, depending on the type of advertising chosen. Moreover, Promote users will have to work with a TikTok advertising account manager.

Four Types of “Promote” Options

In-Feed Ads are the most economical and are recommended for small and medium-sized businesses looking to advertise at TikTok, as the ads simply appear as native feeds in the “For You” panes of TikTok users.

Brand Takeover is the more intrusive type of advertisement as it immediately appears on the screen as soon as a TikTok app opens: but only for a brief spell before becoming an In-Feed Ad in the “For You” panes. However, TikTok limits the number of Brand Takeover spots available.

Branded Hashtag Challenges These are ad campaigns similar to the hashtag video challenges popular among regular users of the TikTok platform. Since the creative hashtag challenges are paid for, the challenge will include shoppable components related to brand retailers.

Branded Augmented Reality/3D Effects Videos – These are usually content with 3D Effects or Augmented Reality video content that appear in the platform’s more creative segments like stickers, branded lenses and other similar spaces.
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