COVID: Right Place, Right Time

Source: Dana Galo I TikTok's Introduction

Even though TikTok continued to grow tremendously in 2019, the app really became ingrained into people’s lives when the pandemic started. Almost suddenly, COVID-19 shut down schools, work, and nearly every aspect of our lives, leaving kids and young people with much more time than they knew what to do with. This caused TikTok to thrive. While people were in lockdown, all television and film products were shut down, causing a pause in entertainment. However, TikTok filled that empty space, becoming the go-to place for endless entertainment and an outlet for creativity in a time of severe boredom. People were spending more time than ever on their phones, leading to more downloads of the TikTok app and more eyeballs on the content across the app. Users were not only able to spend the seemingly endless amount of time stuck at home, but they were also able to connect with relatable videos addressing what was going on in real time. Hours and hours could now be spent scrolling through the For You Page without ever running out of unseen videos or unread comments. People shared creative videos of how they and their families were spending their time during quarantine. Trending creators were starting new dance routines and TikTok challenges for those kids who were bored at home to try and post themselves. More so, adults whose lives were consumed with work and providing for their families were now joining the TikTok space because they too had newfound free time, which expanded the demographic widely. In contrast to the culture on TikTok, the culture of Instagram is much different, in that users share photos of themselves out and about, but that was no longer durable with Coronavirus on the loose. This meant that people had much less to post about on Instagram.

Source: Dana Galo