Since the 2020 global pandemic, users of all ages have flocked to TikTok, the short video-focused service by Chinese internet company ByteDance, seeing it become the next big social media platform. Its increased popularity has seen it evolve to include integration for internet browsers, begin to adopt a YouTube-styled creator support system and bring in larger advertisers and brands to help support the service into the future. Through shut-down scares and geographical ban threats, TikTok has seemingly rode every wave and come out the other side unscathed, but how did it manage to do this? How has it retained its identity in a world where copyright is becoming more and more enforced? And importantly, what will the future of the lip-syncing video service be?
TikTok is best known for short clips of creators either dancing to popular songs or lip-syncing to your favourite film and TV scenes in funny and entertaining skits, bringing fresh perspective and new life to archived content as well as the latest from the entertainment space. However, the app has a vast range of self-imposed sub sections for content such as cosplaying, cookery and model building that basically means there is content for everyone available if you’re willing to dedicate enough time for the algorithm to learn your particular interests.
It also has a very easy entry point for anyone to begin being a ‘TikToker’. All anyone would need is a phone and an ability to dance, lip sync or make something to a clip of music and you’ve done it. With the integration of text-to-speech options, TikTok has also made it entirely possible for users to not even have to feature, face or voice, in their videos. To be a success on the platform is a different question, but the point of entry is extremely accessible when you compare it to platforms such as YouTube and Instagram which now, many years into their existence, require an element of professionalism from the off if you want to be taken seriously.
The most obvious reason to TikTok’s current success is its ability to allow creators to make exactly what they want. Want to dress as Han Solo and Leah and recreate the famous Friends TV Rachel and Ross ‘we were on a break’ fight? Go ahead. How about dance along to the current chart topping song? Not a problem. Want to lip-sync your favourite comedian into your own comedy skit? Knock yourself out. It feels like in opposition to the likes of YouTube, the copyright lockdowns that make those platforms restrictive to content creators, TikTok does not suffer such a fate.
But is this sustainable? Going back to when YouTube broke out into the world in the early 2000s, that too was the wild west of the internet, allowing creators to make videos of whatever they wanted using whatever they wanted. There were no advertisers to keep happy, no copyright claiming and no safe structures in place to prevent propaganda or insensitive material going out into the public domain. It’s safe to say these things have come into place on YouTube for the better, so is it safe to assume that, if TikTok wants to be on YouTube’s par and excel into a strong and unbreakable service, it will have to adopt the same strategies?
TikTok does seem to have an ability to fly under the RADAR as YouTube did back in the day, but in some way it is doing it better. TikTok has successfully brought on board big sponsors and advertisers, managing to get a partnership with the latest Marvel title: Spider-Man: No Way Home without losing what it has always been at its core; a lip syncing service. Singer/songwriters have found fame through TikTok, which works straight into TikTok’s hands because if their platform is where creators are hosting original songs, they become original TikTok audios by default. This system will likely continue to work for original music, but how about those from mega-stars such as Ed Sheeran and Adele.
There is one saving grace for TikTok that might just allow for them to continue with using audios and music from mainstream culture, and that is fair use. Under the terms of fair use, anything can be used for review, parody, reporting, teaching and criticism, but the biggest factor of fair use is amount of copyrighted content used. Every wondered why music clips available on TikTok never run longer than one minute? This could be the grey area that TikTok works in to keep copyrighted content under the terms of fair use and available for their creators to use freely.
So if TikTok can carry on providing users access to whatever sounds they want to use, have brought in a heap of filters to add more dynamic and creativity options to their creators, have a structured creator service that helps TikTokers earn money from their videos and already have access and partnerships with some of the biggest advertisers and brands out there, what will stop them from their continued dominance of this area? YouTube and Instagram have already tried to intergrade the TikTok short approach to their own platforms with YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, but TikTok still leads the way with the desired younger user demographic.
The answer to TikTok’s potential downfall? Brand images.
One of the things TikTok is best known for at the time of publishing is thirst traps: sexy, seductive videos that make users want to follow creators with the hope of ‘seeing more’. They have spiked in popularity throughout the app with even some of the app’s top global creators jumping on the trend. This ability on TikTok to post whatever you want leads to some un-advertiser friendly content, content that will prevent some advertisers signing up to the platform. Does family-safe brand Disney really want adverts for their products playing in front of a sexy tease video? The answer is of course no.
And so we fall into the same trend of YouTube. Once the TikTok of the internet, YouTube had to place down harsher restrictions, copyright blockers and demonitisation to creators who didn’t follow the ad-safe guidelines and shape its creators more into business starters than people just having fun making videos of whatever they wanted. Algorithms came into place to reward videos that ‘fit the mold’ and punish those that didn’t, pigeon holing creators into making a certain brand of content if they wanted to continue being a success and making money on the platform.
Thirst traps could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back if TikTok wants to remain and become even more of a viable business, and we may see the content on the platform changing in the future to become more brand safe like YouTube. Already creators are integrating advertisers into their content, so could we already be seeing the start of TikTok’s ad-pocalypse as creators try to reach out and use their platform of influence to increase their personal revenue?
It seems if TikTok wants to remain in the social media paddling pool, it will have to conform sooner or later to the lessons learn by its peers because at the end of the day, social media companies are not in it for user benefit but to make money out of its users and be a viable business. Let’s enjoy TikTok as it is whilst we still can.
