The UI I have decided to write about is TikTok. TikTok is an app, first launched in 2016. It enables creators to upload short videos, often of dances or short bits of comedy. Originally, it was mainly used by teens, but specifically during large scale social distancing due to COVID-19, other generations have begun using it. The app now has a large audience of millennials and even some content creators who are older than 70.
The main function of the app, viewing the short videos, is fairly natural to use and only takes a few minutes to familiarize oneself with. A user simply needs to swipe to move from one video to the next, and a common joke is that users will open the app and spend hours, sometimes overnight, swiping through videos. It is so natural, that it is easy to forget one should be doing other things (such as writing Medium posts for class). Searching for specific creators or videos, or uploading a video, requires more effort. However, the ease with which users can scroll through endless videos, all calculated to fall within their interests based on the algorithm TikTok uses to choose which videos to show each individual user, has made it a highly successful app.
