![]() Indeed, TikTok may be the only social media network that is thriving. It says everything you need to know that Reels and Shorts often include the telltale watermark revealing that the videos were made on TikTok. These include one-in-a-lifetime clips captured on the fly, but also-more importantly-inventive flights of inspired filmmaking, comedy, cooking, commentary, character-building, parodies, memes, even video essays (and, yes, viral dances). But the algorithm only enabled the true secret of TikTok’s success: the countless creators making a bid for your For You page with a dizzying array of compulsively watchable videos. TikTok’s distinguishing feature has always been its algorithm, which is eerily effective at taking the clues we give it-basically, what we watch and how we interact with it-and surfacing an endless number of videos keyed to our inner desires (one user even wrote that the app realized she was bisexual before she did). Many of the writing opportunities I’ve been given since then have been thanks, at least in part, to that video. It was viewed over two million times and opened up an entirely new phase of my career, allowing me to leave my job and go full-time with my own newsletter about internet culture. One afternoon last August, I made a video about an article I wrote. I’m one of those in-between people, and making TikToks still changed my life. It’s also a tool for makers-casual, professional, and everything in between. It’s easy to forget that TikTok isn’t only a portal for viewers. But not even Instagram, owned by Facebook’s behemoth parent company Meta, has achieved anything like TikTok’s influence: In September 2022, documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal show, Instagram users spent 17.6 million hours a day watching Reels-while users spent 197.8 million hours each day watching TikTok. YouTube followed suit with Shorts that September, and Snapchat launched its Spotlight feature in November. The internet was fun again, and the deeper I fell into TikTok the more I withdrew from Instagram, which had become sterile, and Twitter, which was growing more toxic.Ĭompetitors have scrambled to replicate TikTok’s success, and in so doing, created a cacophony of algorithmically-determined short-form videos. I covered, in real time, the decline of the traditional influencer-mainly women and men on Instagram who modeled enviable lifestyles and were paid to promote products-and the rise of TikTok “creators,” artists and entertainers who reminded me of the early stars of YouTube. I started a new role at a news website dedicated to the internet. Entertainment suddenly moved online, and coverage of digital culture exploded. Convincing my editors that they were worth covering was difficult-until movie sets were shut down and TV shows went on hiatus. Growing up, I went to YouTube more than I ever turned on the TV, and knew there was an entire community of internet users whose online behaviors and creations were going largely undocumented. I was an entertainment news writer when TikTok first launched, but always tried to sneak in stories about the internet. For many, it quickly became a lifeline, a chaotic and creative substitute for the culture and connection that lockdown had decimated. And then the pandemic hit, and over 115 million new people around the world began using the app in just a few weeks. Its stars were gaining millions of followers, but little recognition outside the app. Before March 2020, TikTok was still somewhat of a niche interest. ![]() ![]() Walking home, high off the brief hit of human interaction that I would nurse for another few months, I realized this sidewalk chat was the first time I had encountered TikTok outside of my phone. We all had our first laugh when someone made a reference to a TikTok sound-an audio clip that gets used repeatedly in different videos-that had recently gone viral. The handful of people who gathered there had not socialized in real life for months, owing to the pandemic. The weather was nice, and the store had put together a makeshift wine tasting outside. One Friday in spring 2020, I made my weekly trip to the wine store around the corner from my apartment in Brooklyn. This article was updated on May 18, 2023.
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