TikTok’s creators mourn the possible “overnight” success of the app

For online sensation Erika Thompson, TikTok is the most powerful social media platform for her 11 million followers on her life’s passion: raising bees.

The loss of the platform in the US – likely after the Supreme Court upholds the ban next week – will be financially “a boon” for Ms Thompson, the Texas beekeeper, but it is also a loss. educational tool

“There are a lot of other people on the platform that provide educational content or informative content,” he told the BBC. “That is the biggest loss and what should be focused on, beyond the financial aspect, is the loss that we will feel as a society – the people who use TikTok.”

170 million Americans use the app and website. Unless China-based parent company ByteDance’s platform is sold or intervention comes from the executive branch, the platform is set to go dark in the US on Sunday.

The social media giant’s fate rests in the hands of the US Supreme Court after Democratic and Republican lawmakers voted to ban the video-sharing app last year over concerns about the app’s ties to the Chinese government. national security risk.

TikTok has repeatedly stated that it does not share information with Beijing.

But users and content creators say the social media platform has grown into society, helping regular users gain prominence with millions of followers. Social media has quickly become the preferred social network for some and a key source of income for others.

Now they are worried about what will happen if the ban is not stopped.

Creators who make a living from social media apps told the BBC that TikTok is the top platform.

That was true for Ms. Thomspon, whose first TikTok video received more than 50 million views in the first 24 hours after it was posted.

“I haven’t had the same success on other platforms,” ​​he said. “I can post the same video on Instagram, for example, and not even get close to an engagement.”

Ross Smith, who shares funny videos with his 98-year-old grandmother to more than 24 million followers on TikTok, described it as one of the few platforms where it’s easy to become a creator.

On TikTok, he said, “you can find success overnight.”

Other platforms trying to replicate the short-form scrolling format seen on TikTok have yet to succeed, Mr Smith told the BBC. Mrs. Thompson agreed.

“I rarely hear about people going viral on Instagram or that someone is an Instagram sensation, but those are words you often hear on TikTok,” Ms Thompson said.

Codey James, a fashion influencer with tens of thousands of followers on TikTok, told the BBC that audiences don’t necessarily transfer from one platform to another.

“I know TikTok has hundreds of thousands of followers and maybe tens of thousands of Instagram followers,” Mr James told the BBC.

Many content creators survive on the income they earn from TikTok.

Some told the BBC their lives would change beyond measure without the platform.

When brands and companies want ad content from a creator, they want those creators to post on TikTok, fashion designer and artist Nicole Bloomgarden told the BBC.

“Indirectly, TikTok was the majority of my revenue because all the brands want to promote their stuff on the app,” Bloomgarden said.

It’s unclear whether TikTok is statistically the most lucrative source of income for creators, but many told the BBC that it makes up a large portion of their income.

2022 Startup Survey for Founders Linktree12% of full-time creators earned more than $50,000 per year from social media platforms.

46% said they earned less than $1,000, the survey of 9,500 people found.

This is not the first time that a major social media platform has disappeared.

In 2017, Vine – a platform where users could share six-second video clips – was shut down.

For the founders of the time, it was amazing.

Q Park, a content creator with 37.7 million followers on TikTok, was one of those people.

He spent years building a following on Vine – the only platform he was using at the time – and said when it disappeared “it felt like my whole business was shutting down”.

But somehow it was good for him too. It forced him to learn how to create different content for different audiences.

“That experience showed me that if you have faith in your ability to create content, you will build a following elsewhere,” Mr Park told the BBC.

As the ban approaches, some creators have started moving to other platforms in China, RedNote – A popular TikTok competitor in China, Taiwan and other Mandarin-speaking populations.

RedNote was the most downloaded app in Apple’s US App Store earlier this week.

While some creators are diversifying where they post in hopes of growing more audiences elsewhere, others are hoping the ban won’t take effect.

“TikTok is a beast,” Park said. “Part of me thinks it might be too big to fail.”

“Somehow it will recover, the economy is too big now.”

Additional reporting by Grace Dean and Nathalie Jimenez.