9781422270479

LUCKY LOCKDOWN TikTok has seen an impressive rise in popularity, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Between 2018 and 2019, TikTok added 248 million users, which is impressive for any business. From 2019 to 2020, that number exploded to an additional 319 million. The app also uses a powerful and unique algorithm to connect users to videos based on their own unique interests. By tracking the types of videos that a user likes and shares, TikTok can then recommend similar videos in a customized “For You” feed. This not only helps popular videos go viral but makes it easier for users to connect with new friends who share similar interests. Whether users are into comedy, gaming, dancing, or beauty, TikTok will automatically help direct them to the most popular videos featuring the topics they love. Today, TikTok is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. It has proven to be particularly popular among Generation Z (people born in or after 1997). However, the app the world knows today did not just materialize overnight. TIKTOK’S FOUNDER TikTok was founded by a man named Zhang Yiming, who was born in 1983 in Fujian Province, China. Zhang went to college at Nankai University, where he originally started out studying microelectronics.

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Story of a Startup