Here's what you need to know about TikTok, the app that's taking over social media

FILE - In this March 13, 2014, file photo, Hartselle High School students Lissa Blagburn and Brantlee Wright use an iPhone as they work on a networked lesson in Spanish class in Hartselle, Ala. Teachers say they're seeing so much student anxiety that a national union newsletter labels it a "mental health tsunami." Many of those educators, along with doctors and researchers, say smartphones, especially the nonstop pull of social media, are at least partly to blame. Schools are starting to react. (Gary Cosby Jr./The Decatur Daily via AP, File)
FILE - In this March 13, 2014, file photo, Hartselle High School students Lissa Blagburn and Brantlee Wright use an iPhone as they work on a networked lesson in Spanish class in Hartselle, Ala. Teachers say they're seeing so much student anxiety that a national union newsletter labels it a "mental health tsunami." Many of those educators, along with doctors and researchers, say smartphones, especially the nonstop pull of social media, are at least partly to blame. Schools are starting to react. (Gary Cosby Jr./The Decatur Daily via AP, File)

TikTok is the latest social media app to capture the attention of the young and hip. In case you are neither of those things, TikTok provides a platform for sharing and viewing 15-second videos of lip-syncing, dancing, comedy, DIY, sports, pet videos - whatever you think will become the next viral video or amuse your friends.

The year-old app (if you're not factoring in the period it was known as musical.ly, before being purchased by another Chinese company) is designed to encourage users to interact with challenges, duos and riffs off of others' videos using the same song, which is part of what makes it so addictive. Another reason is it's not dependent on your existing social network; you're immediately flooded with videos as soon as you download the app. I'm not ashamed to admit I lost several hours to these bite-sized videos.

Here are just a few of the trends that have emerged from TikTok:

* The term "VSCO girl," named (for no apparent reason) after the photo filtering app. A popular Halloween costume in 2019, a VSCO girl wears Birkenstocks, oversized T-shirts with short shorts, giving the appearance that she's only wearing a shirt; scrunchies, crop tops, Vans, puka shell necklaces, and carries a Hydro Flask and a Polaroid-producing Instax camera.

* The huge hit "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas - which broke the Billboard Hot 100 all-time record for most weeks (17) at No. 1 - started as a video on TikTok. As of mid-December 2019, the hit song had been used in over 8.2 million other TikTok videos.

* The dismissive phrase "OK boomer," which everyone from members of Generation Z to members of Congress have started saying to boomers who just don't get it.

* Dancing ferrets.

Is TikTok safe?

Throughout its short history, the app has been in the news for concerns about data collection and censorship. It was fined for knowingly publishing content created by underage users and was temporarily banned in India for reasons including the spread of pornography and “cultural degradation.”In November 2019, the U.S. government began conducting a national security investigation into TikTok parent company ByteDance’s $1 billion acquisition of musical.ly, the app it rebranded as TikTok. The investigation involves the national security risk that could be posed if the app is transferring users’ personal data to servers in China. ByteDance claims TikTok doesn’t share American users’ data — which it says is stored separately from Chinese users’ data, as Chinese social media apps are required to share users’ data with the Chinese state.In China, the platform operates as the separate Douyin app.TikTok has also come under scrutiny for censoring content that’s critical of the Chinese government, with one American teen being temporarily banned from the site after criticizing China’s treatment of Muslims and several unidentified American TikTok workers citing prevalent censorship by the app in a Washington Post article.The company has admitted suppressing content from physically disabled users, claiming it was censored to prevent bullying.

In true TikTok fashion, here are some other bite-sized nuggets related to the app:

* TikTok is available in 155 countries and 75 languages and has at least 800 million active users worldwide. That makes it ninth in terms of social network sites - beating out others including Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and LinkedIn.

* The app has been downloaded over 1.5 billion times worldwide, with the lion's share (466 million) coming from India, followed by China (173 million) and the U.S. (123 million).

* It was the third-most downloaded app in the first quarter of 2019, garnering 188 million new users worldwide - a 70% jump year-over-year.

* Within a year of TikTok's development, there were more than 1 million videos viewed every day in a year.

* TikTok users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app. Compare that with 58.5 minutes on Facebook, 53 minutes on Instagram and 49.5 minutes on Snapchat.

* 41% of TikTok users are ages 16 to 24, though in the U.S., that estimate is 60%.

* The app's share of American adults is growing. Following a challenge by "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon in November 2018, usage among U.S. adults doubled in six months, reaching 14.3 million users.

* TikTok reportedly pays influencers $500 to join the app and create content.

* TikTok influencers with 2.5 million followers or more charge around $600 to $1,000 per post.

* Hashtag Challenges on TikTok cost brands $100,000 or more.

* ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is reportedly worth $75 billion - more than Uber and Snapchat combined.

Sources: oberlo.com, wallaroomedia.com, influencermarketinghub.com, The Washington Post

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