It’s been almost four years since lip-syncing app Musical.ly was purchased by new owners and all users were transferred to the app TikTok. Since then, TikTok has become one of the most popular apps in the world. Right now, TikTok has over 1 billion active users, generating an estimated $4.6 billion revenue in 2021, a 142% increase year-on-year. The app is only outnumbered by the users of Facebook, YouTube, Whatsapp, and Instagram – all achieving household name status.
What Is TikTok?
If you haven’t used TikTok before, you might not have a full understanding of what exactly this app does. Put in the simplest terms, this is a video-sharing app. Users create accounts to either create and post their own content or to watch others’ content. This means that all content within the app is user-generated. The main appeal of TikTok is its short video format (videos can last between 15 and 60 seconds when recorded within the app), which means that most videos take the form of comedy or infotainment. Comedy videos aim to make us laugh. Infotainment videos give us short snippets of interesting information. Common examples include travel posts with places to visit, history snippets, recipes, and more. This short video format also means that users don’t have to concentrate in the same way they might a lengthier video on a platform like YouTube. The instant gratification that users experience watching these short videos mean that they scroll quickly between one and another, usually finding themselves having spent hours on the app before growing bored. Of course, excess social media usage can be problematic, so TikTok has enabled a feature that alerts you when you’ve spent over two hours on the app.
Who Uses TikTok?
So, we know that TikTok is wildly popular, but who uses TikTok the most? Various studies have been carried out into this subject, largely for marketing purposes. The general consensus is that the majority of TikTok users are young.
- 0-19 – 32.5% of users
- 20-29 – 29.5% of users
- 30-39 – 16.4% of users
- 40-49 – 13.9% of users
The app has a slightly more female leaning user base, with 59% of users being female and 39% of users being male. In terms of location, the United States has the highest engagement rate, with users spending 68 minutes per day on the app. This is followed by the UK and France, where users spend roughly 60 minutes a day on the app.
Why Use TikTok?
There are two key ways that people tend to use TikTok. The first is for personal use – we watch videos for entertainment, create videos for fun, and the validation of people enjoying what we’ve produced. Those who are primarily watchers tend to sign in for procrastination purposes or to alleviate boredom. There are plenty of celebrity accounts that people also watch to keep on top of their favorite celebs’ lives. Those who are primarily creators have different purposes. Some simply want to make fun videos. Some want to spread information. Some people engage with TikTok in an attempt to go viral and create a name and career for themselves.
Then there’s the other side of TikTok. This is the business side. As with most successful platforms, TikTok is now being monetized, with many brands working with TikTok influencers (those with a huge following) to promote their products. Most target demographics can be reached through TikTok with clever marketing campaigns and promotions, raising brand awareness and promoting sales.
How to Use TikTok
Want to get started on TikTok? Here are some key steps!
Download the App
To use TikTok, you’re going to need TikTok. Start out by downloading the app. It’s widely available on the app store and doesn’t take long to download. We’d recommend connecting to Wifi before downloading to save your data. The app is completely free of charge.
Set Up Your Account
Once the app has been downloaded, click on it and start the process of creating your account. There are various options you can use to do this. You can use your email address, your phone number, or – if you like – you can sign in using another platform like Facebook. TikTok will create your account for you and will assign you a random username. Don’t worry – this can be changed. To change your username, tap the person shaped icon in the bottom right corner. This will take you to your account settings. Next, click edit profile. Here, you will be able to change your username, as well as carry out other account personalizations, such as adding a profile picture, biography and a short profile video.
Change Your Privacy Settings
All new accounts are automatically set to public. This means that anyone will be able to see the videos that you post and access your profile. However, these settings can be changed if you wish. All you need to do is tap the three dots in the top right corner of your screen and you will be taken to your privacy settings.
Watching Videos
It’s time to get started with actually using the app. When you watch videos on TikTok, there are two feeds that you can choose from. The first – and the one that is automatically shown – is the “for you” feed. The for you feed will display a series of videos that the TikTok algorithm believes you will enjoy. Of course, when you first sign up, the algorithm won’t have much to go off. But as you watch more videos, it will see what you watch, what you scroll past, and what you enjoy through reactions. This will help the app to present you with a customized feed filled with videos tailored to your tastes. The second feed is your “following” feed. This will show you the videos of anyone you choose to follow. If you particularly enjoy any videos, remember you can download them using ttdownloader.cc. This will allow you to save them for later and easily share them with people outside of the TikTok app.
Creating and Sharing Videos
Do you want to create and share your own videos? This is simple and straightforward too. Simply press the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and your camera will open. There will be a record button at the bottom of the screen. Click this to start recording. You will also notice options to add songs or sounds to your clip. You can add music before or after filming your content. You can also click “effects” on the left-hand side of the screen to access all sorts of fun AR effects for your videos.
As you can see, TikTok doesn’t have to be complex. The app is extremely easy to use and doesn’t take long to get used to. Hopefully, some of the tips above will help you to get started!