Tik Tok

Tik Tok, an app that has exploded in popularity in 2018, has reached millions of users and this number continues to skyrocket. Tik Tok is a social media app that allows one to share videos of themselves lip syncing to songs, doing skits, and other various activities. People follow accounts with content they enjoy, and users can garner numerous amounts of followers by creating these simple videos. Extremely popular users can earn a living off of a simple 15 second video by advertising, selling their merch, and promoting other social media that they have so that they can earn more followers to earn money off of them as well.

Tik Tok used to be known as Musical.ly, another social media app with features almost identical to Tik Tok. This was because a Chinese company, called ByteDance bought the app and integrated it to their own ‘new’ app after seeing how much of a hit Musical.ly was. It turns out this was a wise move by ByteDance because the app was so popular that it created various new trends and began to become one of the most popular YouTube compilation genres. It’s standing on YouTube is comparable to how popular vine videos and Fortnite videos were in the past.

However, Tik Tok can be used for things other than lip syncing, skits, and dances. After Tik Tok created a function that allows users to ‘duet’ videos by placing videos side by side, the memes began. Tik Tok users started to mock other users that takes the app seriously by using it unironically to post videos of themselves. This is because the whole app became a ‘joke’ to most of the users. It became a second ‘Vine,’another popular website. Users also started “bullying” other users depending how they looked and how they acted.

There are also various conspiracies involving the app.  A believer in the Tik Tok conspiracy is Jarel, a senior of Lafayette High School.“I’m telling you now! That da** Chinese Government is taking away personal information from its users! It’s all a clever strategy to get into your phones!” he said during Lafayette High School’s AEP. He claimed that the Chinese wrote Musical.ly and made it into Tik Tok just for the sake of getting into the user’s phones.

Since the app is popular and has users worldwide, there are just as many who loathe and hate the app. There are many who finds the app itself too “cringy” to have and refuse to even download it even though they never plan to make a video themselves. It is the idea of even having the app on their phone that disgusts them.

The only Tik Tok user I am aware of wished to remain anonymous due to how embarrassed she was in admitting she makes Tik Tok videos even though it is done ironically. “It is fun to make videos and post it,” she said, “I cover my face with something like a mask though because I don’t want my face to be known to the people that see my videos. I used to just browse through the videos that was recommended to me, but I was curious enough to make one for myself.”  She claims that all the videos that she made was done ironically and she only got about 10 views per video she made.

Although there are various differing opinions on Tik Tok, it is undeniable that Tik Tok made various contributions to the meme community. It created memes like “I wanna be tracer,” “choose your character,” and many more. It also displays an event that’s called the ‘Furry war.’ It is the virtual ‘war’ online that is between normal gamers and furries. Furries are animal enthusiasts who are interested in anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. They are shunned by the normal members of society and so they tend to hide the fact that they are a Furry. This ‘Furry war’” is a war on Tik Tok with members of each party spying info from the other team, capturing members from the other party, and etc as a joke.

There are numerous opinions on Tik Tok and there is different thought for everyone. It can be loved and used by many, but it can also be an object of disgust and be looked down upon.