5 Surprising Facts About TikTok

Almost overnight, many people outside of China went from not knowing what TikTok is to thinking “What is this Vine knockoff?” to fully embracing the app. It’s now the most popular on all of the internet, and some of us are still trying to learn how it works. If you’re one of those that’s late to the party, here are some facts about TikTok you may be surprised to learn.

5. Not Always TikTok

The TikTok that we all know today went through some naming changes early on, and it didn’t take long for things to catch on. ByteDance, a company in China, started TikTok as an app called A.me before changing to Douyin, all of which happened in the final few months of 2016. In 2017, the app changed names once again to TikTok. By the beginning of 2018, TikTok was already the top free app in countries around the world, showing just how fast certain things can catch on. The biggest boom came when the company merged with musical.ly to create interest in the Western Hemisphere.

4. The Record Holders

The title for most subscribed YouTuber has been a long and ever-changing one, but that’s not the case for TikTok. Due to it being a newer platform, only a handful of people have held that title. The first came in the form of Ariel Martin, or Baby Ariel as she’s known on TikTok. Up until April 2017, the now-actor was the most followed and was replaced by Lisa and Lena. Those two held the title for over 700 days and were then unseated by Loren Gray, who was then replaced by Charli D’Amelio and since June 2022 it has been Khaby Lame.

3. Time Spent on TikTok

TikTok is known for its super short videos, so you might think that the amount of time that people spend on there each day is minimal. However, one short video leads to another and before you know it, you’ve gone several hours deep down a rabbit hole. Because of this, people around the globe spend an average of 52 minutes per day on TikTok. It’s a little lower in the United States at 40 minutes per day (which is still behind YouTube at 45 minutes), but it’s shocking how fast it has grown and become a habit for many.

2. You Can Pay TikTokers

TikTok hopped on the bandwagon by creating its own platform exclusive currency a la Twitch with their bits. For TikTok, it’s called Coins and you can buy 70 of them for about $0.75 in the United States. Users can then cash out their Coins that they have been sent and put it into their bank account .The minimum for payout is $100, and even the biggest creators can only pull out $1,000 maximum per day in Coins.

1. Interesting Demographics

One of the first things that comes to mind with TikTok is the incredibly young audience. Many of the stars are still in their teenage years, and these people make up a quarter of all users. It might be surprising to know that there are plenty of older people that use TikTok, though. In fact, 11 percent of people on the app are over 50 years old, and people 30 and over make up over half of all users.