Will TikTok Die? The Great App and the Great Emerging Gap
What’s going on with TikTok?
Just type this question in a search bar, and your Internet browser explodes with a variety of headlines, shocking titles and gigabytes of data. Wall Street Journal and Forbes, small local websites and no-name tweets — all of them are booming with the details of TikTok’s success, acquisition and bans.
However, hardly someone explains what the TikTok ban may mean for your startup.
We’ve analyzed news and opinions, investigated the market and came up with this informative review of TikTok’s past and future, its advantages and disadvantages, and an exclusive tip on how TikTok’s fail may impact your app-based business.
So keep on reading.
A tribute to TikTok
It’s hard to believe that a social video sharing app could jump so high:
- It’s estimated net value is $50 billion, and as of now, TikTok is “the most valuable privately held company in the world”;
- The app makes its founder, Zhang Yiming, one of the wealthiest people in China;
- The number of downloads exceeds 2 billion;
- The app sets viral trends and brings its top influencers millions of dollars of revenue.
The list may continue with even more numbers and fascinating facts. It is undoubtful that TikTok changed the entire vision of online social media channels. Now, this is a great example of how to act entering the industry where such powerful players like Instagram or Facebook lead.
Read also: How to Build an Online Social Network?
But nothing lasts forever. Now, TikTok’s breakthrough seems to approach the finish line.
The opposite side of inspiring success
With a variety of articles devoted to TikTok’s upcoming failure, it’s hard to distinguish the true reasons for it to have such a negative impact. To make it all clear, we’ve separated all the issues to two connected groups:
1. Users’ concerns and complaints
- Unhealthy addiction
Social media apps are not just apps in teenager’s smartphone. They entertain, distract, and create a fake feeling of connection with other people. Viral content and never-ending news feed make users devote more and more time to the app. Hours spent staring into the screen recall even more dangerous addiction. It’s like an avalanche: the more time you spent using the app, the more you’ll do tomorrow. Powered by negative users’ reviews and stories, TikTok-caused FOMO turns to serious trouble. - Misinformation
2020 is a great indicator of how unreliable is the information we get online every day. Fake news, political propaganda, ridiculous conspiracy theories and gigabytes of other things not worth even mentioning — this all harms young adult users who spend so much time on the platform. - Cyberbullying
This point applies to almost every online social networking website. Rude critics of race and skin color, body shape and breast size may be found on most of the online channels. Due to a massive amount of data generated on the TikTok platform, here, the concentration of cyberbullying is very high.
2. Government bans and lawsuits
Along with that, several more kicks hit TikTok’s reputation:
- Data leaks
A massive part of TikTok users is under 18. Personal information is collected illegally, and then… it’s lost. Multiple data leaks lead platform closer to the failure. - Bans in different countries
Long before Donald Trump started the war against TikTok, the app was banned in numerous countries, including India, Japan, Indonesia etc.
The main reason for that is privacy concerns. Servers that belong to the TikTok’s founder company ByteBrand are located in China. There are reasons to believe that they are not secured effectively and users personal data is being shared with the Chinese government without any permission.
Now, the situation probably will change as Oracle, “the very American company” wins bid for TikTok. Such a massive change in TikTok’s lifetime (or can we even assume that TikTok will remain TikTok?) will take time so for now, Trump repeats his attempts to block the app for the US citizens.
A quick journey to the past…
Remember how TikTok’s story started? Before its popularity started to raise, on the US market there was a similar video-sharing app called Vine. However, in 2017 Vine started to lose its positions and closed soon. The founders hoped to re-launch an upgraded version as fast as possible, however, it only happened in 2020.
When Vine faded, the massive gap appeared as the users interested in video sharing have nowhere to go with their wishes. Except for Instagram, of course, which is, first of all, an image-sharing app.
Read also: Top Photo-Sharing Apps Like Instagram
And that’s when TikTok caught the wave.
2017–2018 were perfect years to launch a video-sharing platform: the audience warmed up by Vine app was waiting for its hero.
Now, this hero loses its positions. And in the US, at least 100 million monthly active users are interested in a new app.
Does anyone have the potential to replace TikTok?
CNBC says that it may be ShareChat, an Indian startup backed by Twitter, who will replace TikTok in case of complete closure. There are different opinions as well: during the last 2–3 years, Instagram demonstrated huge progress in terms of video-sharing functionality. However, there’s another significant fact: a market is getting ready to welcome a new product.
The TikTok-like startup, a social video sharing mobile app, has all the chances to succeed in this situation. Spicing up your idea, adding a fresh taste to a well-known concept, you can attract enormous attention to your app and occupy your place under the sun.
At the same time, if you have an idea only there are opportunities to launch a good-looking MVP in about 4 months. And with an MVP, there’s a chance to attract the investments and use them for further functionality development, team extension and business growth.
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