After surviving a Trump Administration onslaught that threatened to end the platform’s existence in North America, TikTok has announced that it has reached the 1 billion users a month milestone.
“At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. Today, we’re celebrating that mission and our global TikTok community. More than 1 billion people around the world now come to TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn, laugh, or discover something new. We’re honoured to be a home for our immensely diverse community of families, small businesses, and creators who transform into our favourite stars.”
TikTok
This is quite an achievement from the ByteDance owned company. That’s a seventh of the world congregating on to one platform to watch short videos about people doing things.
As earlier mentioned, TikTok’s journey to 1 billion wasn’t a walk in the part. Besides the Trump era battle, the social media platform has had its issues. Most notable is the connection its parent company has with the Chinese government which raises questions about privacy. It’s no secret that the Chinese authorities “encourage” native companies and those that operate within its borders to share information.
But that hasn’t stopped people from flocking to TikTok. More importantly, it has forced other platforms like Instagram and YouTube to adopt the short video format.
Instagram in particular. A couple of months ago the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri said that the Facebook-owned company was no longer a “square photo-sharing app”.
This got photographers and Instagram purists in an uproar but from a business standpoint, it’s hard to argue. Reels are pretty popular and Instagram had to reorientate itself to meet the prevailing trend. I guess the old saying is true “if you can’t beat them, join them”.
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