The Diffusion Theory-Explained by TikTok

 Diffusion Theory-Explained by TikTok

Well, it didn’t start off as TikTok. 

In 2014, music.ly was developed in Shanghai. The app allowed creators to utilize different musical sounds and create short videos. As it began to move onto application stores in the U.S. market, people had doubts about it(BBC News). After Vine was no longer able to be downloaded, users didn’t want to change their allegiance. Music.ly was viewed as a rebound from Vine.  

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2016 rolled around and the Chinese tech giant ByteDance created a similar platform to music.ly called Douyin. In Thailand and China, the app had 100 million viewers in just one year. ByteDance decided to purchase music.ly, combine it with Douyin, and TikTok was born in 2018 (BBC News).  

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Again, users were apprehensive about TikTok. I used to have a Vine account, and I felt that TikTok was a cop-out to Vine. I refused to download it for the longest time. But then: quarantine hit. I had nothing to do, nothing to watch. My favorite Netflix shows were now boring me. So I mustered up the courage, opened up the App Store, and downloaded the app. And now I’m addicted. 

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I’m not alone in this. TikTok blasted off during quarantine- I’d argue that quarantine was the catalyst that made TikTok so popular in the United States. Memes were beginning to be shared through the app, and people had more time on their hands to sit and watch videos. Users were sharing how to make whipped coffee, tie-dye sets, and how to dance. TikTok dances are the backbone of the app. Creators like Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae create dances, pass them out to their massive followings, and watch as users all over the world learn them, record them, and post them. 

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So what makes TikTok different from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter? According to BBC News, “TikTok's secret lies in its use of music and an extraordinarily powerful algorithm, which learns what content users like to see far faster than many other apps” (BBC News). This is an incredibly important resource for businesses. Those looking to promote their new or current products/services can create short videos with hashtags and popular music to promote their small businesses. This compilation demonstrates the quick, effective, and colorful videos that users create in hopes of receiving sales. 

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What makes TikTok so special is the “For You Page”. This is the home page for TikTok, and shifts depending on your determined algorithm at any given time. Most creators have a desire to get on other users' For You Pages, but that's controlled by the algorithm put in place by TikTok. 

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Why are some people late adopters or won’t adopt the app at all? Many parents are confused with TikTok and how it works. Creating videos, adding music and text, and trying to become ”TikTok famous” eludes them. Gen-Z is most known for using the app. Jack Wagner told The Atlantic “that 'a grown adult doing a cute karaoke video on an app and trying to make it go viral is odd behaviour'” (Don't Get TikTok?). Some parents also see how much the app keeps kids on their phones, something they do not want to engage in themselves. 

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Of course, the main consequence of the technology was the scandal that broke out in September 2020, where former president Donald Trump claimed he was going to be banning TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores. He “argued that TikTok and WeChat collect data from American users that could be retrieved by the Chinese government” (NY Times). This issue caused potential users to become apprehensive about downloading the app, which limits the spread. I believe that this controversy will permit TikTok from becoming completely saturated in terms of the Diffusion Theory. 

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I think that TikTok is an important technological development for our society and continues to prove how effective it is in terms of spreading messages and sharing content.   

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53640724

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrLsjd9Arg

https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/don-t-get-tiktok-here-s-an-explainer-20191115-p53b2k

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/trump-tik-tok-wechat-ban.html