What is it and how does TikTok work

The social media for music videos, which recently also acquired the Musical.ly platform, is very trendy among teenagers, here’s how it works

Probably, if you’re looking for it is because you got tired of hearing your kids repeat its name to the point of exhaustion. So, you thought it would be a good idea to figure out what TikTok is and why a little bit of all the teenagers in Italy (along with a good part of their peers around the world) are so fascinated by this new platform.

TikTok, also known in China as Douyin, is a social network for videos born right in the Asian country in 2016. The app was created with a very simple purpose: to allow kids to make music videos with their favorite songs in the background. Basically the same function as Musical.ly, not surprisingly purchased by the same software house that develops TikTok and promptly withdrawn from the market. This has allowed TikTok to become one of the social platforms with the highest growth rate in 2018, already being able to count on tens and tens of millions of users around the globe. To understand its sudden success, however, it is necessary to understand what TikTok is, what it does and how it works. Let’s see it together.

What is TikTok

As already mentioned,  TikTok is a platform for video sharing that focuses particularly on music videos but not only. TikTok works on both Android and iOS smartphones, while at the moment there is no alternative available for PC.

In fact, with TikTok your kids can put themselves in the shoes of their favorite singers or actors and sing (or act) by mimicking their moves and moving their lips in time. In short, a kind of visual karaoke that works from your smartphone.

How TikTok works

Using TikTok to create creative and entertaining videos is very simple. Once installed and launched we’ll be faced with an interface very similar to Instagram. Just like in the social platform owned by Facebook, from the main page we’ll be able to access the contents uploaded by other users, divided into the followed and the suggested for you. Obviously, the first concern the users that we have decided to follow and the second are those recommended based on the type of video we have watched. While watching a video, on the right we will find the thumbnail of the profile of the user who uploaded it: by pressing on the photo we will enter the profile, while pressing on “+” we will add it to the list of followers. To like a video just press twice on the video itself, while to comment just tap on the cloud icon always on the right. On the right side of the screen is the option to share a video you’ve liked with other users.

How do you create a video with TikTok?

Also in this case, nothing could be simpler: just press the “+” icon in the center and follow the wizard (quite simple) proposed by the app.