Diffusion of Innovations: TikTok

Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. Everett Rogers argues that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. The origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are varied and span multiple disciplines. So a innovation I found that is new to our world is the app TikTok.

TikTok is a free app that was created by a Chinese company called Douyin which is a video sharing networking service owned by ByteDance. The company launched in September 2016. The app was not well known at the time until merging with another app named Musically. Musically was a  platform where users could create and share short lip-sync videos their choice and post for their friends to see. After the merge TikTok became an app where people could post funny videos, tutorials, dances and many other forms o expression. The app allow there to be a friends page and a public page. If the user only want their friends to see it they can post it to just friends but if they want the video to be public they have a public page where other users can engage in the post and like it. The merge happened in 2018 and was available in 40 different languages.

The catch and spreader seemed from entertainment. The app is fun and diverse but has also developed into an influencer app. TikTok had deemed users that receive lots of likes "popular creatures." These popular creatures have developed a branded following and have created a fan base on TikTok. These popular creatures became stars overnight. 

TikTok's current most popular creator Charli D'amelio. She has 49.1 million followers 

People in fact in adopt this app early because by February of 2019 nearly a year after merging TikTok had 1 billion global downloads. TikTok became the 7th most downloaded app go the decade of 2010-2019. In one years time the app was able to become a top ten downloaded app.

In 2018 the app extended itself again to 150 markets and added 35 additional languages to the app. Adopters are minimal units od analysis. In most studies, adopters are individuals  but can be groups as well. The app currently has 800 million active users. In the United States, 52% of TikTok users are iPhone users. 44% of TikTok users are female while 56% are male. TikTok has proven to attract the younger generation, as 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. Among these TikTok users, 90% say they use the app on a daily basis. 

Some negatives to TikTok have been  reported that the app is very addictive and can take up hours of the users day. The apps videos are mostly for fun and have yes actual added value to a user except entertainment.