TikTok, the app formerly known as Musical.ly, officially became the most downloaded app ever in 2020. And, it may soon be banned in the United States.
Over 1.5 billion people have downloaded the short-form video app as of April of this year. While that many people probably aren’t wrong about TikTok being the most exciting, and strange, takeover trend to hit 2020, the TikTok app incidentally also poses a major national security threat.
Why is TikTok getting banned?
Earlier this month, White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, revealed to reporters that President Trump is contemplating a complete ban on TikTok, which will make it unavailable in the U.S. These discussions came after TikTok was completely banned in India, with the UK and Australia making announcements to consider the same.
Members of the United States military, employees of Homeland Security, the TSA, and Wells Fargo have already been told to remove TikTok from all of their devices.
The primary concern with the app centers on how the video-based social network might be used to further China’s strategic global ambitions. Reports released by The Guardian and the Washington Post have provoked the eyes of onlookers to question China’s efforts to censor information traveling through free societies around the world.
A world without short-form video content from TikTok
Much like the abandonment of Vine, or fusion of Music.ly into TikTok… life will find a way.
Soon after news hit the grapevine that TikTok’s day in the sun was done, Instagram kicked open the doors at the back of the house, singing “I’ve got you babe” all the way to center stage.
TikTok’s Rival, Reels, Launches in the US This August
Anything you can do Instagram can do better, right SnapChat?
Well, we’re about to find out if they can do it again. Earlier this year, Instagram started rolling out options to compete with TikTok by way of a brand new feature known as, Reels; available right inside of the Instagram app.
Don’t expect Instagram, by way of the real credit going to Facebook, to reinvent the wheel. Facebook has mastered the art of taking the very best of something and making it their own. Instagram remembers.
What is Instagram Reels?
Instagram #Reels will be, for all intents and purposes, the same as TikTok. The focus of the features will be on short-form creative content that users can set to a vast library of music. Reel users will also be able to borrow music clips from other users, like they’re used to doing on TikTok. The other things you love about TikTok, like the video countdown timer and speed adjustment options, will be replicated on Reels as well. And, for the bravest of the bunch, you’ll also still have the ability to record your own original soundtracks.
Will Reels be as good as TikTok?
Features to features… you probably won’t miss anything more than a different color palette.
Much like Facebook replicated and enhanced the user experience when they acquired Instagram and adopted features from SnapChat, Reels is expected to be just as good, if not better, than TikTok was (or has been). What you likely won’t see, however, is the same amount of user activity.
A brief history of TikTok…
Before TikTok was TikTok, it was originally known as Music.ly, an outrageously popular app amongst the Gen Zs and younger. That was until Music.ly was purchased and reinvented into TikTok by the Chinese internet company ByteDance; the world’s largest startup, valued at $78 Billion.
And all of the Music.ly trained users moved over to TikTok, helping it to become the most downloaded app in the history of app downloads during the first quarter of 2020.
As it happens, however, the youth of the nation don’t take well to older generations jumping on their trend wagon. And so, as millennials and more started taking up the TikTok spotlight, Generation Z’s love for the most used and downloaded app of all time, faded.
Why Is Instagram Copying TikTok with Reels So Hard Then?
Because, thanks to the hype caused by Gen Z, TikTok is now one of the most popular meeting places for millennials – the most valuable audience group for marketers to sell things to.
If TikTok is banned in the United States, Instagram will be poised at the ready to absorb all of the daily traffic from people who have come to enjoy (and even rely on during these strange isolated times) the fun that short-form content from TikTok has been bringing them.
How do you become famous on TikTok now?
You still have some time to try. The TikTok ban is likely but not yet official.
If you don’t catch your big break on TikTok’s Featured Feed before it’s gone, you can try your luck when Instagram launches Reels and a brand new discovery section in Instagram Explorer to go with it, in early August of 2020.
Get your content ready for Reels!
While Facebook has yet to announce the official launch date of Reels on Instagram, a report released by NBC states that the platform plans to roll out Reels to more than 50 countries in a matter of weeks, with an expected launch date in the United States set for some time in early August.