In just a few years, TikTok has stormed ahead of its rivals to become the world's biggest app. Where did it come from and how did it overtake its rivals?
Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker delves deep into the origins of China's viral video app. He yields new insights into its culture, addictive algorithm and influencer ecosystem.
And he reveals the influence of its owners ByteDance on hundreds of millions of users worldwide through the policing of little-known guidelines, including those on physical appearances.
TikTok is the emerging battleground for a geopolitical tussle between East and West for control of social media. It has already been banned in India.
TikTok Boom is a rollercoaster business story bristling with ambition and drama.
Find out where TikTok came from, where it's going, and what it can do for you.
Extract
Ask most people what ByteDance is and they'll likely meet you with a blank stare. Yet it is the owner of TikTok and a host of other world-leading apps. Founded in March 2012, it's worth about $180 billion. Despite the fact its apps are used by two billion people worldwide, earning it $34 billion in revenue in 2020, ByteDance deliberately keeps a low profile among the general public in the West. It wants its products to take centre stage.
It's a strategy devised by its low-key founder, Yiming Zhang. Whereas his fellow Chinese rival, Musical.ly's Alex Zhu, is creative and flighty, Zhang is measured and focused. Compared to his more brash counterparts in China, such as Jack Ma, the former boss of Alibaba Group, who's known for his exuberance and outgoing personality, he is even a little dull. Considered. He practises 'delayed gratification.' He's rational - though his choice of clothing, T-shirts and jeans, makes him more laid back than the average Chinese executive. Imagine the slightly underwhelming disappointment of Mark Zuckerberg, rather than the zany pinball personality of Elon Musk.
Born in 1983 in Longyan in the coastal province of Fujian with the highest proportion of emigrants to the Western world in all of China, Zhang is fiercely independent. While many people entering China's tech sector are comfortable landing a job at one of the pre-existing Chinese tech giants, Zhang ignored that route. He was not after the quick buzz of instant success: he played the long game.
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| ISBN: | 9781912454792 |
| Publication date: | 16th July 2021 |
| Author: | Chris Stokel-Walker |
| Publisher: | Canbury Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 288 pages |
| Suitable For: | |
| Other Genres: |
In just a few years, TikTok has stormed ahead of its rivals to become the world's biggest app. Where did it come from and how did it overtake its rivals?
Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker delves deep into the origins of China's viral video app. He yields new insights into its culture, addictive algorithm and influencer ecosystem.
And he reveals the influence of its owners ByteDance on hundreds of millions of users worldwide through the policing of little-known guidelines, including those on physical appearances.
TikTok is the emerging battleground for a geopolitical tussle between East and West for control of social media. It has already been banned in India.
TikTok Boom is a rollercoaster business story bristling with ambition and drama.
Find out where TikTok came from, where it's going, and what it can do for you.
Extract
Ask most people what ByteDance is and they'll likely meet you with a blank stare. Yet it is the owner of TikTok and a host of other world-leading apps. Founded in March 2012, it's worth about $180 billion. Despite the fact its apps are used by two billion people worldwide, earning it $34 billion in revenue in 2020, ByteDance deliberately keeps a low profile among the general public in the West. It wants its products to take centre stage.
It's a strategy devised by its low-key founder, Yiming Zhang. Whereas his fellow Chinese rival, Musical.ly's Alex Zhu, is creative and flighty, Zhang is measured and focused. Compared to his more brash counterparts in China, such as Jack Ma, the former boss of Alibaba Group, who's known for his exuberance and outgoing personality, he is even a little dull. Considered. He practises 'delayed gratification.' He's rational - though his choice of clothing, T-shirts and jeans, makes him more laid back than the average Chinese executive. Imagine the slightly underwhelming disappointment of Mark Zuckerberg, rather than the zany pinball personality of Elon Musk.
Born in 1983 in Longyan in the coastal province of Fujian with the highest proportion of emigrants to the Western world in all of China, Zhang is fiercely independent. While many people entering China's tech sector are comfortable landing a job at one of the pre-existing Chinese tech giants, Zhang ignored that route. He was not after the quick buzz of instant success: he played the long game.
Buy the book and start reading
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed TikTok Boom and determined it is suitable for children aged 15-18 years old
TikTok Boom features in the following genres: Featured Books for Young Adults, Computers and the Digital World, People / Places, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Social media, Recommendations, Science, Children’s / Teenage: General interest, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
TikTok Boom is available in Paperback
TikTok Boom was written by Chris Stokel-Walker and published by Canbury Press
TikTok Boom has 288 pages
£13.49
