It's no surprise that everyone is turning to their phones and tablets for some sort of distraction to make the days pass during the pandemic but for the past two months I've been interested in how TikTok has still managed to dominate over most, if not all, age groups.
During isolation and social distancing measures we've seen existing apps come to the forefront like Zoom and Houseparty which has kept us in contact with those we love in the form of pub quizzes, celebrations and general check ins. And in-between all this, massive numbers of people have moved over to TikTok and are spending there days endlessly scrolling or taking part in viral challenges themselves...
I think it's a good place to start understanding what TikTok is, as an app, it allows users to share videos of them doing just about anything. The worldwide phenomenon started big in China and after merging with another likeminded social media app Musical.ly, TikTok has become a household name. Combing the two apps, one with a large audience in China, and one centrally in America, popularity became a sure bet.
Despite being released in 2016, and only becoming as popular as it is in 2018, TikTok is one of the most downloaded apps of the 2010s with around 1.5 billion downloads and beating the likes of YouTube and Twitter. Since February last year the app has managed to stay within the top 20 of the global downloads (The data stops as of February 2020, but in the past few months we can assume in the top 20 it stays.)
In the first few months of 2020, it looked as if the app was going to become the next social media for brands and companies to start advertising on, and then came COVID.
Despite the pandemic, TikTok is still a dominant contender for brands to advertise on, some may say even more so now, with more people coming onto the app and more people of different age brackets. With thousands writing how TikTok has connected the world during the pandemic, thousands more are heading over to the app and entertaining themselves in lockdown (or through the social distancing measures.) Examples of what has been capturing users attentions over the past two months have been a North Carolina's family 'Quarantine Olympics' and a new 'Wipe it Down' challenge that has users cleaning there mirrors (a brilliant way to get people stay as germ-free as possible, under the circumstances) and having fun with it as users changing their appearance mid-way through.
Along with keeping the world entertained, TikTok has also been keeping on top of safety and branching out to help combat COVID-19. With the increase of people joining the app, TikToks new safety features focuses on creating a safe environment for it's youngest users with restrictions on direct messaging and strict content fillers. The safety features started to roll out in the UK a few weeks ago with the impression that all TikTok users will have these features this month, UK and Globally.
TikTok has also been focused on helping those on the front lines having pledged $250M to front-line workers, local communities and educators during this time and has even partnered with public health organisations giving $125M in advertising credits on the app to those and smaller businesses who are currently struggling.The efforts of TikTok's Health Heroes Relief Fund, TikTok Community Relief Fund and TikTok Creative Learning Fund have aided globally to the pandemic in any way they can.
Circling back to the increasing pressure for brands and companies to decide whether or not to start advertising on TikTok, it's only advisable for companies to job onto the bandwagon while it's still hot. The increase in audiences on the app has created an enormous engagement and reach, creating content that either educates, promotes positive messaging or makes users laugh is the perfect way for brands to make connects with their audiences. The inclusion of multiple age groups is also another plus for advertisers; the main questions is whether or not the surge of users will still be there once the world returns to normal, or as close to normal as we can get.
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