Undoubtedly, many people suffered a setback due to the adverse effect of the Coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, thousands of other people and companies including TikTok app would forever remain grateful for the success they recorded during the pandemic, particularly the period of COVID-19 lockdown.
One of the many companies that would always look back to count their blessings during the lockdown is the owner of the TikTok app. Bytednace launched the mobile app launched in 2017, but it became more popular in 2020, majorly because of the lockdown.
Recently, Zhang Yiming, one of TikTok’s co-founders, announced his decision to step down as the Chief Executive Officer, CEO of ByteDance. This company owns TikTok, a video-sharing social networking service.
Yiming said he decided to step aside at the end of 2021 with a net worth of $44.5 billion because, according to him, he lacked managerial skills and preferred reading and daydreaming to running the tech giant.
Many people are familiar with TikTok. Still, they don’t know certain things about it, and that is why EveryEvery.ng gathered some of the fun facts you need to know about the TikTok app.
1.A Chinese company known as ByteDance owns and designed TikTok to make various short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education, with a duration from 15 seconds to three minutes for some users.
2.ByteDance launched TikTok in September 2017. However, it only became available worldwide after merging with another Chinese social media service in 2018.
Since its launch, TikTok rapidly gained popularity in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, the United States, Turkey, Russia, and other countries. As of October 2020, TikTok surpassed over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide.
3.The government of India banned TikTok and other Chinese apps in 2020. Also, former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, threatened to ban TikTok in 2020 if negotiations for the company to be bought by Microsoft failed. Meanwhile, on 6 August, Trump signed two executive orders excluding US transactions with TikTok and WeChat (read more here).
4.A global, privately-held data intelligence company ranked TikTok as the third fastest-growing brand of 2020, after Zoom and Peacock. Many celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Will Smith, and Justin Bieber, joined TikTok.
5.Globally, 44% of TikTok users are female, while 56% are male. 43% of new users are from India. TikTok tends to appeal to younger users; 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24.
Among these TikTok users, 90% say they use the app daily. Meanwhile, a study shows that some TikTok users may find it hard to stop using the app.
Do you use the TikTok app? Share your experience.