TECH

TikTok gains strength and surpasses Facebook and Instagram

Gone are the days when Facebook and Instagram reigned absolute in the universe of social media. Now TikTok is in charge. Created in China in 2012 by the startup ByteDance, the app based its existence on short and fun videos. In 2019, it became a global phenomenon and won over countless celebrities. Even the newspaper “The Washington Post” got in the way.
With 1.65 billion downloads on the App Store and Google Play Store, TikTok has become the third most downloaded app in the world in the “non-games” category, according to a report by SensorTower Analytics. This placement left him ahead of Face and Insta, just below WhatsApp and Messenger.
It is the first Chinese platform to reach such a level of global relevance and the only application among the five most downloaded in the world that does not belong to Mark Zuckerberg's conglomerate. In response to the emergence of the new protagonist, Facebook launched the Lasso app last year, and Instagram added the Cenas feature, both with a very similar operation to that of the Chinese social network.
The company intends to maintain its relevance by appealing to the features that young people can take from the platform. “With comedy, makeup, sports, games and decoration content, TikTok presents a diverse range of innovative content”, says the application's community manager, Rodrigo Barbosa. "The focus is always on offering new features and creating more creative environments for people to express themselves."
Last year, the company raised US $ 176.9 million globally, representing 71% of its total revenue since 2012. Its parent company, ByteDance, is valued at US $ 75 billion by CB Insights - making it the most valuable startup in the world.

Mattheus Goto-Brazil