What started as a joke has now become a concern for my health.
Originally, TikTok was an app known as Musical.ly. I originally downloaded Musically because it was supposed to be "the new Vine", sadly it didn’t live up to what Vine had so I deleted the app from my phone. A few years later Musical.ly became TikTok. I swore I wouldn't download it but many youtubers I watched would make fun of the cringe worthy content on it. The content from TikTok was also was copied onto my Instagram feed.
Eventually I caved and redownloaded the app to see what was up. I started only opening the app occasionally (like once a week) just to look at what's happening. Out of nowhere, trends started forming, popular creators started appearing, and some popular creators even started forming real life houses where they would all live and make content together. In an instance TikTok exploded in popularity.
I started opening the app much more regularly. My friends started downloading the app too. I am literally in a group chat called "TikTok legends" where we send our favorite TikToks to each other. Recently we (the members of the "TikTok legends" group chat) each started making our own TikToks too! We all have private accounts though so only we can see each others TikToks. This group chat increased my obsession with the app.
The app itself is short little videos ranging from dance clips to practical jokes and all things in between. When you first open the app you are on your "for you" page. This is an endless list of suggested videos for you. To switch from video to video you just swipe up. You can like, comment, and share each video. All your liked videos are archived in your profile. You can bookmark your favorite sound clips by clicking the right corner of the video (it looks like a spinning record) and use those sounds in your own video as well as see everyone who has used that sound in their own videos.
I now spend hours on this app a day scrolling through my "for you" page trying to find super good videos to share with my friends. The addicting thing about this is that 80% of the time the videos that pop up aren't great but it’s the hunt for that 20% that is thrilling. I now have over a hundred liked videos that I love, share, and reflect back on for my own TikTok inspiration. Those videos are usually a trend I want to try, a joke I find super funny, or someone singing who sounds really beautiful.
The tricky thing about this app is that there is no time stamp at the top of the page. For me, I lose track of time on the hunt for new content that hours end up passing me by but it feels like minutes. One moment its sunny, the next, its dark outside. Your fully immersed in the app viewing videos that minutes turn into hours.
TikTok vs. Musical.ly
There are multiple reasons why TikTok has been more successful than Musical.ly. First off, Musical.ly was centered around specific content - lip singing, quick little dances, and "acting" all from the waist up. Secondly, majority of the creators where high schoolers - not a lot of people want to watch high schoolers lip sing. Thirdly, it didn’t live up to what Vine was - vine was a very successful app that had been shut down in 2013 (due to money reasons) - it was short 7 second videos of comedy, dances, singing, etc.
When Musical.ly became TikTok it formed into what feels like a duplicate of Vine which makes sense why it is more popular. There's more diverse content than Musical.ly.
Musical.ly's UI definitely felt very cluttered and hard to maneuver for the amount of content they had where TikTok's UI is more easy to understand and maneuver and just looks more clean. I remember one of the reasons I deleted Musical.ly was because the way it was designed and the way ads popped up felt very scammy, like I could get a bug on my phone or something so I didn't really trust it. Meanwhile, TikTok ads blend seamlessly with the content on my for you page.
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