Tik Tok Users in the US have responded with collective disregard to Donald Trump’s decision to block new downloads of the video-sharing app, but many are already planning to exit to other platforms if the campaign leads to an outright ban.
“Oh my God! Well! It’s happening! Everyone stay calm!” TikToker Nick Foster told his 577,000 followers, dubbing a video of him in the voice of Steve Carell’s character in The Office series as he panics during a fire alarm.
Although the young users of the platform, who are their main base, have not shown much interest in them Government announcementOlder users did not interact.
The Buyin King, a 22-year-old investor with 438,000 followers, wrote, “Thank you for the fun times.”
Some said that for those who already have the app, not much will change between Sunday, when the government ban on downloads goes into effect, and November 12, the closing date that you set. Trump administration.
The administration has targeted TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant Bytedance, over national security, which has led to an escalation of the fight with Beijing over digital technology. The November 12 deadline will likely allow a tie-up between TikTok and a US data protection company to assuage Washington’s security concerns.
“That’s a situation,” said Geoff Courrier, a consultant with 376,000 followers on TikTok. “For Trump, it’s a way to show TikTok that he means business but without hurting them too much.”
However, most of those who built followers on TikTok were preparing to leave.
For people who make a living from their social media presence – such as superstar Addison Ray, who has 60.9 million followers and raised $ 5 million between June 2019 and June 2020, according to Forbes – the financial stakes are high.
For weeks now, many TikTok users have shared their Instagram and YouTube accounts on their profiles, preparing their fans for the transition to greener pastures.
Up to TikTok’s gold standard, Charli D’Amelio – which has 87.5 million followers at just 16 years old, the platform’s most popular creator – announced a non-exclusive partnership with Triller, a similar platform, as it already has 1.1 million subscribers.
Bryce Hall, Nessa Barrett, and Chase Hudson – largely unknown among people over the age of 20 but with over 10 million followers on TikTok – have also started Triller accounts.
Trump himself, who hasn’t dipped his toe in the waters of TikTok, made his debut on Triller, where he already has 953,000 followers.
In August, Triller announced that it had been downloaded 250 million times since its inception, a number that analytics firm Apptopia has contested, bringing the number of downloads close to 52 million.
The app isn’t the only one to put itself in the ashes of TikTok, which has been downloaded 2 billion times worldwide and has 100 million users in the US alone.
It also awaits Byte (not related to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance), which launched in January, as well as Likee – which Apptopia says was downloaded 7.2 million times in the US between February and August – and Dubsmash.
Not to mention Instagram and YouTube, which have expanded their tentacles with Reels and YouTube Shorts, respectively, and beta versions of which have been appropriately launched in the past few months.
James Mourey, a professor of marketing at DePaul University, said the winner “will be what loyal TikTok users see as the” cool “place.
Pointing to the younger generation moving from Facebook to Instagram, Morrie said, in the current context, “startups like Byte may have the advantage, because we know that established brands lock down their ‘cool factor’ as they get older.”
But Morrie cautioned that TikTok isn’t over yet.
Much could still happen before November 12th, “And don’t forget: TikTok is not banned outside the US, as long as TikTok remains the dominant player globally, it will continue to innovate and maintain a strong customer base,” he said.
