

The combination of video media and the “feed” makes TikTok especially information dense. The result is a unique way of conveying and consuming information. TikTok is the first social media platform to combine these characteristics. And like Snapchat and Instagram, TikTok can only be produced on mobile phones, favoring younger users who are more fluent with smartphones than computers. Like Netflix, the default mode of encountering content is through the recommendation algorithm, not through the construction of “friend” or “follower” networks. Like Facebook and Twitter the primary mode of consuming tiktoks is by navigating through a “feed” of short, digestible posts. Like YouTube, TikTok consists entirely of videos. Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images How it comparesĬomparing TikTok with other digital media platforms shows what makes it unique. “Sounds” have had a huge impact on the music industry: “Old Town Road,” one of the most popular songs of all time, first gained popularity as a TikTok “sound” with an associated dance.Ĭomedian Sarah Cooper’s TikTok page shows thumbnails of her videos, or tiktoks, on the social media platform.
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This library contains both snippets of songs by professional musicians and silly recordings of people talking.

These “sounds” can either be user-uploaded or chosen from a library of popular sounds.

The bottom of the screen contains information about the “sound”: the audio file that accompanies the video. The app’s library of filters and video-distorting effects is like Instagram filters but for video. The app offers a wide range of options for customizing and combining these videos, including video taken with the user’s smartphone, photos uploaded from the web, emojis and other text superimposed on the video, and special effects. The majority of the screen is taken up by the video uploaded by the user. How it worksĮach tiktok is a 3- to 60-second-long video that loops when finished.
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Despite its superficially frivolous nature, young people have been using the platform to send political messages, coordinate political actions and hang out in an online space largely free of adults. In short, the phone-only app lets users record themselves dancing or goofing around to a music or spoken-word clip and then alter the videos using a wide array of effects. It was the most downloaded app in July 2020.Īs a political scientist who studies social media, I’ve looked at what makes TikTok unique and why young people have flocked to it. TikTok, a social media platform targeted at young mobile phone users, was the second-most downloaded app in the world in 2019.
