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TikTok went against stereotypes — and became one of the dominant phenomena of modern culture

TikTok would not have achieved a high level of popularity if it had not violated the rules set by the market. This was announced by Kik Puris, Managing Director and Head of Global Business Marketing at TikTok, during the Fast Company Innovation Festival.

In two years, the Chinese video sharing application TikTok has grown from a niche platform for teenagers to a dominant force in the culture, writes FC. In the first 9 months of 2020, it was downloaded by more than 64 million users in the United States.

According to Katie Puris, all thanks to the fact that the application has brought completely new things to the field of video sharing. In particular, full-screen videos with audio enabled on mobile devices, where branded and custom content, unlike other platforms, are almost indistinguishable. “We tell our brands, ‘Don’t advertise, don’t tickle,'” says Puris.

During the discussion, Innovation Crush podcast presenter David Lidsky also agreed that TikTok had broken the rules and acted differently from other video applications. In his opinion, the Chinese application does not have any one specific topic and does not frame itself. “Many platforms say, ‘We’re talking about this, we’re talking about this…’ And TikTok says, “We give you peace, have fun,” says David.

But Lidsky also believes that much of TikTok’s success is not just breaking the rules, but also good timing. Short video services have been launched before, but have not had similar success — for example, Vine. According to Lida, TikTok appeared just when the audience was “ripe” for such a product.