Have you heard of the newest social media craze named TikTok? If not then let me fill you in…
Tiktok is an app primarily for sharing live and recorded videos. The app was first released back in 2016 and was originally under the name musically. Musically was the predecessor to the now-defunct Vine app. In 2018 the Bytedance group bought the Musically app for close to $1 billion and re-engineered it before re-branding it to what is known today as TikTok. Since musically merged with TikTok the user base has grown to over 500 million and is quickly gaining traction as one of the most popular social media platforms among young adults. Presently there is no official way to access TikTok without installing the app however you can use the TikTok web viewer which allows you to search and browse user accounts as well as view videos published under different tags.
How it works:
To get started with TikTok you will need to first install the TikTok app by visiting the Android or Apple app store.
Once you’ve installed the app, roughly 79 megabytes, you will need to create an account you by connecting to your Facebook account or by using an email address. After creating an account you can connect with your friends and family that already have TikTok and follow them. Vice versa they can also follow you.
After logging in to your account you will also have access to the TikTok camera which will allow you to generate short video clips between 3 and 15 seconds long. The video clips can be edited directly within the app allowing users to add special effects, music, stickers and many other things to their videos.
Once you’re satisfied with your video you can publish it which will allow anyone to view and interact with you. You also have the option to publish the videos on other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
The app also supports a few other post types. The reaction post type allows you to capture your reaction to a video by placing a smaller video within the original video.
Another popular TikTok post type is the duets post type. This feature allows you to record a video aside another thus allowing you to create a cool duet video to favorite music with your best friend, mom, dad, or even yourself.
Security:
You might have noticed that in the previous paragraph we mentioned that any video you post will be visible by anyone. By default when you create a TikTok account anything you post will be visible by anyone. If you want only your followers to be able to view your posts you will need to make your account private.
To make your account private you need to access the privacy settings from the app. Start by clicking the three dots in the top right corner of the app. On the next panel click on the tab titled privacy and safety. Then toggle the private account button located near the top of the app.
By doing this your account will be completely private from the rest of the world and your tiktok followers will be able to see the content that you publish.
Since this platform is widely used by children it is best that the proper privacy measures are taken to keep children’s identify secure and safe. In March of 2018 TikTok was hit with a lawsuit for 2 million dollars for not following the privacy guidelines for children. Since then they have vastly improved the security of their app.
Tiktok is a fun and growing platform. It has a long way to go before it reaches likes of Instagram and Facebook but it’s well on its way to being a competitor. Seeing as more and more youngsters are taking videos with their phones there’s no doubt that the popularity of the platform will continue to increase. Give it a try and you’ll see just how addictive TikTok can be.