When was TikTok made?

TikTok has risen in popularity over the years to the point that it surpassed Google as the most popular website of 2021. Aside from the fact that it definitely keeps us entertained and occupied when we need a break from other social networking applications, TikTok has grown into an e-commerce application as well. With how big TikTok is right now, we can’t help but wonder: where did the app come from and when was it made? Let’s take a look at TikTok’s brief history!

How and when was TikTok made?

There are plenty of social networking apps on the market where you can share clips and videos. Some of these are YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, and even Instagram. So why and how did TikTok come to life? Where did it come from?

• To answer your question, TikTok was first made available to Chinese users. But at the time, it was called Douyin and it was only available in the country of China

• In Douyin, users are able to browse and create videos that range from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. It was completely up to the user what kind of content they wanted to contribute to the website
• The team behind Douyin is a Chinese company called ByteDance. Although they did make the app available to users outside of China, it needed some time before it became the popular app that it is today
• The app’s initial release is on September 2016, approximately six years ago. In 2017, it started becoming available for users outside of China but it needed another year before it hit a worldwide release

TikTok merges with musical.ly for the U.S. release

Before TikTok, we had apps like Vine and musical.ly. Both apps eventually stopped receiving support from their developers but ByteDance saw an opportunity to introduce itself to users in the United States.

• ByteDance purchased musical.ly in November 2017 to capitalize on its popularity among young users in the United States
• The two apps successfully merged on August 2, 2018. ByteDance made the decision to preserve user data from musical.ly and have them migrate to the newest app in town: TikTok
• With this merger, TikTok has finally made itself available to a global market. In the first half of 2018, TikTok was downloaded from the App Store over 104 million times

How popular is the app nowadays?

There really is no denying that TikTok is one of the top apps nowadays. What started as a merger with musical.ly eventually evolved into something big. Because of its popularity, TikTok has offices located on different continents.

• Aside from being a great way to keep a person entertained for hours, some users are also turning to TikTok to earn money. Similar to YouTube, popular content creators on the app can collaborate with brands and create sponsored videos on their behalf
• Additionally, these content creators can also be sent virtual gifts which their audience can purchase using real-life money. These gifts are tips given to content creators while they are livestreaming on the application

Despite the fact that TikTok has run into some controversy regarding politics and unfiltered content making its way into the app, it is still immensely popular. A lot of users are still sticking around. And honestly, the numbers will only continue to go up from here.