TikTok was the most downloaded app in the US during the first three months of 2021, according to a new report. This time last year it was the second most downloaded app during the same period, but trouble was on the horizon. US government agencies were banning the app due to security fears, which would eventually lead to Donald Trump's attempts to ban the app in the US altogether.
Trump first mooted the prospect of banning TikTok in July 2020, with the security concerns about the app playing into his hands for the trade war that he had cultivated with China, from where the app's parent company ByteDance hails. After being given an initial ultimatum that TikTok's US operations should be sold to a US company or face US companies being banned from dealing with it (effectively banning it in the US), the app was repeatedly spared by way of various legal cases. A delay to the decision on its fate until after the US presidential election ultimately saved TikTok, with the newly-elected President Biden determining that the app's presence in the US market was not a security threat.
After a turbulent 2020 in the US then, TikTok will welcome the news from mobile data and analytics firm App Annie that it is now the country's most downloaded app. This time last year, it was in joint second place with YouTube behind Zoom, which was seeing a spike in popularity as a result of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. TikTok was also the most downloaded app worldwide during the first quarter of 2021, ahead of Facebook and Instagram.
What Has Made TikTok Such A Success?
Many more detailed words have been written about what has made TikTok a success, but there are a handful of notable factors — both in the US and elsewhere around the world. For a start, TikTok was never conceived from a social media ideals perspective like, say, Facebook and Twitter but as a product that would be designed and developed for success. ByteDance is a technology company with a number of products of which TikTok is one and it stripped away many of the conventions used by other platforms when creating TikTok.
Most notably, it did away with the self-curated home feed for users in favor of a never-ending stream of content algorithmically determined to be of interest to individuals based on their past activity. This is a large part of what makes TikTok so compelling. Along with its engaging short video format, the ability to swipe through content effortlessly, a creative community that moves from trend to trend without pause, and the regular introduction of new features to continuously improve and evolve the experience, it has made TikTok into the powerhouse that it is has become and stands it in good stead for the future.
Source: App Annie