TikTok

TikTok is a short-form video hosting service owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet technology company. Launched in 2016, it hosts various user-generated video content ranging from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Its Android and iOS versions were later launched in 2017; however, it became accessible worldwide once it merged with Musical.ly in 2018.

In late 2020, TikTok grew as one of the fastest-growing brands, with over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide. Cloudflare also ranked TikTok the most popular website of 2021, surpassing Google. As of 2022, the app has 30.8 million daily active users on iOS and 14.43 million on Android OS.

 

Table of Contents

Helpful TikTok Articles

 

Notable Features of TikTok

The TikTok app enables users to create short-form videos that can be edited with filters and background music that can be either sped up or slowed down. Users can also add their sound on top of the background music. To create a video using TikTok, users can choose their background music from various genres, edit it with filters and speed adjustments, and record a 15-second video or longer before sharing it with other TikTok users or other platforms.

 

For You Page

TikTok’s most famous feature is the For You page. It contains a feed of videos recommended to users based on their activity on the platform. The videos shown on this page are generated by TikTok’s artificial intelligence (AI) depending on what the user has liked, searched, or interacted with.

 

Reacts

One of TikTok’s notable features is its react videos. These allow users to film their reaction to an existing video placed in a small window and movable around the screen. Duets are also similar to react videos and were a trademark by Musical.ly. A duet is only possible once both parties agree on the same privacy settings.

 

Small Gestures

In 2020, TikTok launched Virtual Items, a part of the Small Gestures feature. It’s influenced by China’s practice of social gifting. This led many beauty companies and brands to create their TikTok account and advertise using this feature. Virtual Items became mainstream in the United States and other countries, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown.

 

Tips for Creators

The Tip feature on TikTok was released in 2021 and allowed users to directly tip specific creators. Accounts at least of legal age, agree to the terms and have at least 100,000 followers can have a Tip button on their profile. Users can tip any amount, with $1 being the lowest.

 

Live Studio

In 2021, TikTok started testing the Live Studio feature in its beta version. It’s a streaming software that allows users to broadcast applications and games on their computers. The software also supported PC and mobile streaming options.

However, a few days after its launch, users from Twitter discovered that Live Studio allegedly uses code from OBS Studio, an open-source streaming and screencasting app. OBS later made a statement saying that under the GNU GPL version 2, TikTok needs to make the code of Live Studio publicly available if it wants to use code from OBS.