US TikTok users prepare for ban, switch to other platforms such as Triller
NY: American TikTok users reacted with a collective shrug Friday to the united states proceed to ban new downloads of the video-sharing app-but most are already planning an exit to other platforms if the clampdown result in an outright ban.
“Oh my God! Ok! It’s happening! Everybody stay calm!” TikToker Nick Foster told his 577,000 followers, dubbing a video of himself with sound of actor Steve Carell’s character on the series “The Office” panicking throughout a fire alarm.
Although young users on the platform, who make up its primary base, don’t seem to be to have paid much focus on the government’s announcement, the older kinds have reacted.
“Many thanks for the fun times,” posted The Buyin King, a 22-year-old investor with 438,000 followers.
Some users were pragmatic, pointing out that for those who already had the app little would change between Sunday, when the federal government ban on downloads will get into effect, and November 12, the cutoff date set by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The administration has targeted TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant Bytedance, over national security, escalating a fight with Beijing over the digital technology. The November 12 deadline potentially allows for a tie-up between TikTok and a US company to guard data to allay Washington’s security concerns.
“That is posturing,” said Jeff Couret, a consultant with 376,000 TikTok followers. “For Trump it’s a means of showing TikTok that he means business but without hurting them too much.”
However, most of those who have built a following on TikTok are getting prepared to pack their bags, whatever the ultimate outcome.
For people who make a living off of their presence on the social network-such as star Addison Rae, who boasts 60.9 million followers and earned $5 million between June 2019 and June 2020, according to Forbes magazine-the financial stakes are high.
For weeks now, many TikTok users have been sharing their Instagram and YouTube accounts on the profiles, preparing their fans for a jump to greener pastures.
Competitors lying in wait
Even TikTok’s gold standard, Charli D’Amelio-who, with 87.5 million followers at only 16 years old, may be the platform’s most popular creator-announced Tuesday a non-exclusive partnership with Triller, an identical platform, where she already has 1.1 million subscribers.
Bryce Hall, Nessa Barrett and Chase Hudson-largely unknown among the over-20-year-olds but with an increase of than 10 million TikTok followers each-have also started Triller accounts.
In a sign of the changing times, Trump himself, who never dipped his toe into TikTok’s waters, has made his debut on Triller, where he already has 953,000 followers.
In August, Triller announced it turned out downloaded 250 million times because it was made, a figure that was disputed by analytics firm Apptopia, which put the number of downloads nearer to 52 million.
The app is not the only person positioning itself to go up from the ashes of titan TikTok, which has been downloaded two billion times worldwide and has 100 million users in america alone.
Also lying in wait are Byte (no relation to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance), that was launched in January, in addition to Likee-which Apptopia says was downloaded 7.2 million times in america between February and August-and Dubsmash.
Not to mention Instagram and YouTube, that have extended their tentacles with Reels and YouTube Shorts, respectively, the test versions of which launched opportunely in the past few months.
The winner “could be the the one that the loyal TikTok users perceive as being the ‘cool’ place to be,” said James Mourey, a marketing professor at DePaul University.
In its time, TikTok itself had benefited from the January 2017 disappearance of Vine, a video-sharing app that had 200 million active users at its peak.
In the current context, “startups like Byte may have the edge, as we know established brands in tech lose their ‘cool factor’ the older they get,” said Mourey, pointing to younger generations’ migration from Facebook to Instagram.
But even weakened and suspended, TikTok isn’t dead yet, Mourey warned.
A whole lot can still happen before November 12, “and don’t forget: TikTok isn't banned outside of the united states, in order long as TikTok is still the dominant player globally, it'll continue to innovate and keep maintaining a strong customer base,” he said.
