The Good, The Bad & The TikTok
What’s the difference between what makes a product good vs. great?
During this time where the global pandemic has taken away almost all physical contact with anyone, we as humans begin to feel isolated, anxious and maybe, like most Americans, scared about the economy. Being quarantined in our homes has created not only a physical distance between others but also an emotional one. We as social beings strive to have human interaction in order to feel sane. Trying to find a safe way to interact with others with old social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can feel less personal and more toxic through the growing trends of cancel culture and ‘flexing’. This was until TikTok came in the picture.
Released in 2014, TikTok has grown to be one of the most popularly used apps , especially during this quarantine. Growing its engaged community, this product has not only started thousands of trends through these past few months but is also one of the biggest marketing strategies for music, small businesses and clothing stores as well as growing “TikTok stars” who make well over a million dollars a year from these short videos. According to Music Business Worldwide, the week of March 16th the video app was downloaded 2 million times which was an 18% increase in downloads from the previous week. The app also saw a 27% increase in the first 23 days of March compared to February with 6.2 million downloads.
The question is, what makes this design great? This product is great not only because of how user friendly it is for someone to create content to post but also how easy it is to watch these short videos with a swipe of a finger. Navigating through this app is pretty straight forward, making it consistent for new and returning users. The design is easy to adapt, having similar traits to the now shut down app, Vine. The experience of TikTok is all up to the creators, making it very personable to watch different peoples everyday lives, small business creations and outfit of the weeks. It gives all creatives a platform to show their work while allowing users feel connected from content that is set up like an “at home” video.
I consider this app to be one of the most innovative apps we’ve seen in the past few years in terms of growing into a large social media outlet. This app allows users to connect with one another through different trends, dances, skits, likes, comments and sharing while following the strict community guidelines to keep users feeling safe when using their product. Users have used this to market their brands, music and talents. Small businesses have been growing in business because of this type of advertisement and even selling out overnight when their video becomes viral, giving financial ease to people who have been struggling during this pandemic. This app also is an outlet to learn new things from simple air fryer recipes to how to identify a cancerous mole (this saved this mans life). Whatever type of humor you have, may it be through skits, improve or even dark humor, you will find it on TikTok. The possibilities for content are endless.
Once you get sucked into the ‘world’ of TikTok, it is easy to let go of all your time and spend hours on this app. This being caused from what seems like an endless amount of entertaining videos to watch. TikTok is a great way to feel connected with others whether they be loved ones or strangers, it will always be a new experience when opening the app. This app brings people all over the world together through times that are hard. I personally hop onto Tiktok when I need a study break or just want to put a smile on my face. I believe these aspects of an app are clear characteristics of a great product design; knowing that this product is useful, useable, reliable, and especially desirable. Have you tried TikTok yet?
