If you’re on the fence about creating a TikTok account, here are some things you should consider.
TikTok is not for everyone. If you're used to apps like Instagram or Facebook, you'll find TikTok to be very different. But there's no doubt that it's one of the fastest growing social networks that has proved to be very popular with younger audiences.
No matter if you're interested in creating or viewing content, there are certain things you should consider before you download and sign up to TikTok.
TikTok's videos are usually between fifteen and sixty seconds. Before you've processed what you just watched, you'll be served another video almost instantaneously. While it can be a nice distraction from your day-to-day activities, viewing continuous content has been linked with making our collective attention spans shorter, according to a study in Nature Communications.
However, while there is no scientific evidence to say that social media is ruining our attention span, but viewing a stream of frequent content does impact us.
There are a few reasons why TikTok could be dangerous to your personal privacy and security. Not only does TikTok collect a lot of data, according to its privacy policy it collects data associated with private messages.
Its policy states that it collects "the content of the message and the associated metadata (such as the time the message was sent, received and/or read, as well as the participants in the communication". Before you sign up, you need to decide if you want your private content to be scrutinized by the app's data collection processes.
TikTok collects and tracks your approximate location based on such things as your SIM card and IP address location. Why it does this, according to its privacy policy, is so that it can customize your experience.
We know that apps like Google Maps track our location, but there are ways you can cover your tracks and protect your privacy in Google Maps. However, you should decide whether you are okay with a social media app tracking your whereabouts as well.
If you genuinely enjoy consuming content online, especially videos, you can choose the type of content you would like to view and create a personalized experience on TikTok. With thousands of videos posted each second, TikTok provides an endless scrolling experience to keep you entertained for hours. At the same time, it could steal a lot of your time.
If you are a content creator wanting to get noticed by potential followers, or to work with brands and businesses, TikTok is a good platform to do that on. It's easy to make your first video on TikTok, and with some know-how and hacks, your brand, business, or just your everyday life could be up and running for everyone to interact with and enjoy in minutes.
If you're interested in how much TikTokers make, you might be surprised to find out that there are influencers out there getting rich overnight from the content they post.
TikTok is filled with online communities. Anything from car lovers to book lovers, there are groups for you to join, hashtags for you to follow, and influencers for you to seek out.
If you are interested in books and book reviews, you might follow the BookTok hashtag for the latest news in the book world. It's easy to select and to search for what you want. All you have to do is go to the search bar and start typing. You can then choose to follow hashtags with communities behind them or influencers who are making an impact.
TikTok looks simple enough, but in order to post quality content and view the content of others, there are a few tips for the beginners of TikTok that you should familiarize yourself with. Thankfully, you don't have to record your video through TikTok to post it. You can pre-record a quality video and only post it when you're happy with it.
TikTok also allows you to create slideshows, make GIFs from TikTok videos, and even set a timer to record videos. If you have the time, you can create lip-syncing videos on TikTok, share other people's content, and even use songs from other people's TikTok posts. It takes some time to get used to the editing tools.
If you're already viewing a lot of TikTok's content on other apps without being signed up to TikTok, ask yourself whether you need to download TikTok at all. For example, if your friends are sharing content with you that comes from TikTok, you don't need to have the app to open the content but can enjoy it anyway.
There are a lot of social media apps that are alternatives to TikTok which offer a variety of features and experiences, so choosing one that suits you and your needs shouldn't turn into a problem.
TikTok is a platform where you can't always predict which video will be shown to you next. From comedy videos, to random posts by people doing silly things, you can't be too sure that what you see will sit well with you. TikTok has a range of videos but not everything is suited to everyone.
There are also a lot of content creators who share content that may not be culturally appropriate or suitable for all ages. This is something that is important to consider before signing up to the platform.
The app is quite advanced when it comes to showing you personalized content that caters to your interests. Its algorithm avoids recommending you repetitive content and focuses on showing you what you want to see. If you are a viewer of content, and you genuinely enjoy interacting with what's on social media, TikTok could be a great app for you.
Likewise, if you want to try and become a video content creator, you could utilize TikTok's potential to get you where you want to be. It is important however, to consider the pros and cons of the app before you consider downloading it.
Barbara Ivusic is a Staff Writer at MUO. She has 15+ years experience in online and print publishing. She’s worked as an editor and writer in Sydney and Berlin. She also writes creatively and has had stories published in international magazines and anthologies. She has a BA (HONS) in English from the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Certificate in Publishing and Professional Editing from University of Technology, Sydney.