Over one billion people are using TikTok worldwide to share short videos of themselves lip-syncing, dancing, telling jokes, and getting recommendations on all kinds of products.
While this sounds like fun and games, the controversial video-sharing app owned by ByteDance has a whole element of uncertainty regarding security around it, and questionable content moderation standards.
Forbes reports that ByteDance was accused of working with the Chinese government to censor content the communist government considers controversial, which includes human rights concerns in China, protests in Hong Kong, and internment camps.
In addition, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr recently shared that, “TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of sensitive data from search and browsing history, keystroke patterns, location data, and biometrics including face prints and voice prints.”
Putting this great commodity in the hands of China is quite scary in a generation where “people have called it [data] the new oil,” as the previous head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, John Carlin explained.
With the ability to easily create content that the algorithm quickly makes viral, people and businesses are putting security issues aside due to the great potential of views, likes, and monetary rewards.
With the ability to easily create content that the algorithm quickly makes viral, people and businesses are putting security issues aside due to the great potential of views, likes, and monetary rewards.
As Zoe Bermant, our CEO shared in the past, “companies want to be where everyone else is, and the new and shiny appeal of TikTok is real. Especially as the algorithm tends to favor all posts, with zero biases.”
However, as a parent and Social Media Agency owner concerned about safety and security, Zoe has been known to question how businesses should utilize TikTok in the best way – or whether they should be on the platform at all.
The main challenge as we see it for B2B businesses, especially tech ones, is that TikTok tends to be super creative, and your everyday content just isn’t going to work there. Many companies still use the cookie-cutter approach to sharing content across different social media platforms. The other challenge is that the demographic of TikTok users tends to be much younger, so if your decision-makers or users are middle-aged men working in IT or middle management, then maybe TikTok is not the place you want to be.
There’s a lot to consider before you even start to try and tap into the success of TikTok.
👉 Should you morally support TikTok given the nature of the content on the platform?
👉 Should you ignore the inherent security concerns?
👉 Is your audience on TikTok?
👉 If you answered no, no, yes to the above 3 dilemmas, then are you ready to face the challenge to create an entirely more creative and strategic plan suitable for TikTok?
While we don’t have all the answers for you, these are the same challenges, strategic decisions, and thoughts that are front-of-mind as we go into 2023 for ourselves and our clients.
So what do you think is the future of Tik Tok? How do you think this platform will affect social media in the long term? And how, if at all, should companies currently make use of TikTok in the best way?
Let us know your thoughts on the matter! We’d love to hear!
