Tik Tok gains popularity during social distancing
Popular videos shown on Tik Tok’s Trending page on April 1st. Screenshot by Mariah McBride
Social distancing has led many Americans to find comfort in virtual interactions like Tik Tok videos, according to recent data from the analytics site Sensor Tower.
In case you are not familiar, Tik Tok, which has been referred to as the newest Vine, is a short-form (15 - 50 seconds long) social media app (with tall not square videos) that allows users to create dances, lip-sync to their favorite songs, and act out comedic scenes on their mobile devices. Chinese internet company, ByteDance, released Tik Tok in 2016. ByteDance later purchased Musically, a popular lip syncing app, and merged it with Tik Tok in 2017.
According to Sensor Tower, Tik Tok has hit one billion downloads as of February 2020. As shown in a graph by Sensor Tower (below), the numbers of downloads started growing during the middle of March surpassing usership from early March and even February. March was around the time period that public officials worldwide began to encourage social distancing. It is also during the time that many stay-at-home orders in several states went into effect.
Sensor Tower Graph shows the positive growth of Tik Tok users worldwide every month and day. Screenshot taken Mar. 31st by Mariah McBride.
With many theaters, concerts, and other art programs canceled or suspended due to social distancing recommendations by the CDC and WHO, Tik Tok has allowed users to creatively express themselves during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the app has increased in popularity because of its numerous dance challenges to popular songs. Some challenges that have been popular this year and during the covid-19 pandemic are Say So, Renegade/Lottery, Something New, Savage, Hit Yo Groove and Don’t Start Now dance challenges - just to name a few.
Let us know below if you have joined in on the Tik Tok fun, and what are some of you favorite dance challenges so far!