TikTok, the social network is already a success

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In a digital world, video has become one of the most popular formats, especially for young people. One of the social networks that has emerged as a favorite among teens is TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, an app that makes the most of the video format.

TikTok, born Musical.ly, is a social network that combines Vine and Snapchat. It lets you create videos ranging from 15 seconds to a minute long. It has a whole layer of enhancements to personalize your video. It's an evolution of Instagram's "stories" format, but its unique feature is that it all starts with choosing a song.

The Musical.ly app was created in 2014 by a pair of Chinese entrepreneurs, Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang, primarily based on Snapchat's popularity usa mobile database among young Americans . In late 2017, Chinese giant ByteDance Technology acquired Musical.ly for over €850 million, and renamed it TikTok.

ByteDance has emerged as the world's most valuable startup: in October 2018, it reached a valuation of €66 billion, a figure that has surpassed Uber, the longtime leader in the list of the world's most valuable startups. In fact, ByteDance is focusing on instant messaging with its new chat app, Feiliao, or Flipchat. It's a hybrid of instant messaging and interest forums, and is now available for download on iOS and Android operating systems, although it has only reached the Chinese market so far.

There are those over 35 who still have Facebook and Twitter, there are Millennials who still have Instagram and YouTube, and those of Generation Z who prefer TikTok and Twitch, the latter being the platform for gamers.

With TikTok, you can upload videos from your phone while you sing or dance—no longer in front of a mirror and privately, but with a sense of humor, and share them publicly. TikTok also launched a live video platform, Live.ly, in 2016, widely used by influencers to stream with their followers.

How do you use TikTok?
When you log in, the experience is very similar to Instagram, except that the videos aren't displayed in full screen; they're displayed vertically. The Timeline is divided into three sections, accessible from the top: videos posted by people you follow, featured videos, and a "For You" section that includes popular videos near your location.

At the bottom of the interface, you'll find the app's main functions: a button to return to the home screen, another to search, the central button to create your videos, and two more buttons to check your notifications and access your profile.

Like any social media app, each user has a profile with an avatar, a short bio, their number of followers or fans and following, and a list of all their videos posted so far. You can also add an icon that links to your Instagram profile, or share a profile on Facebook or Twitter, for example.

On TikTok, you can use snippets of songs from your favorite artists or current hits on radio stations around the world. The video can be recorded in several ways: slow motion, fast motion, normal motion, imitating a timelapse... and if you use your phone's front camera and record yourself in a selfie mode, you can wear a mask like the ones popularized by Snapchat.

Once the video is processed, you can trim it, apply a filter, or add a time-lapse effect by playing it backward. Once it's ready, you can publish it with its title, along with tags and mentions to your contacts if you like. TikTok also allows you to duet with another user or create a "party" with a group of users creating a video together. The social network also regularly organizes challenges around a specific hashtag, in which the most liked videos appear in the featured video feed or are reposted by popular accounts.