Code suggests that TikTok could be building an app for photosAfter rivaling music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple music with TikTok Music, ByteDance might be looking at creating an Instagram competitor named TikTok Photos, code found in the TikTok app suggests.
As spotted by The SpAndroid blog, TikTok’s APK file — an installable file format for Android — contains references and icons to a new app named TikTok Photos.
“Whether you’re a world traveler, food blogger, or simply enjoy sharing what’s going on in your life, TikTok Photos is our all-new photo-sharing platform dedicated to helping creators like you reach other like-minded people,” the description reads.
“TikTok Photos is our all-new photo-sharing platform where we’ve made it easier to enjoy and discover photo posts.”The APK also has a representative icon of the potential TikTok Photos service in old TikTok colors.
Through this update, users could already add photo posts to the network, but the company could be working on a separate platform to make photos stand out.
What’s going on with the new bill that could ban TikTok?
Congress wants to force TikTok to part with its Chinese parent companyTikTok faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. once again.
The bill, which many of its detractors reasonably describe as a “ban,” would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months in order for the app to continue operating here.
The campaign to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company originated with an executive order during the Trump administration.
We may learn more next week if senators begin weighing in on the prospect of creating their own version of the house bill.
When some American users opened TikTok on Thursday morning, they were met with a full-screen message encouraging them to call Congress and say no to a TikTok ban.
“Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO.”Below the message, users can click a red “call now” button.
Last year, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress for five hours, addressing lawmakers’ concerns about Chinese authorities accessing American data (TikTok, an American company, is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company).
Chew has repeatedly stated that TikTok and ByteDance are not conduits for the Chinese government.
The bill’s sponsors are urging TikTok to sever its ties with ByteDance to avoid this fate, or else it could lose its 170 million American users.
TikTok announced today that its revamped creator fund has increased total creator revenue by over 250% within the last six months.
The company says the fund, which launched a year ago and eventually replaced TikTok’s original $1 billion Creator Fund, is exiting beta in the coming weeks.
Since rolling out longer videos, TikTok says users are spending 50% of their time watching longer content, while viewership of longer videos has increased nearly 40% over the last six months.
When TikTok first launched the revamped fund, it estimated that creators would be able to make more than 20 times what they were previously earning on TikTok.
TikTok’s new creator fund seeks to appease creators and encourage them to post their longer videos on TikTok, instead of just YouTube.
TikTok is introducing a data portability API to help it comply with new European regulations designed to rein in Big Tech’s market dominance through various obligations and restrictions.
Data transfersData portability and interoperability constitutes a major part of the DMA regulations, and tech companies have been bolstering their efforts on this front for several years in preparation.
Thus the data portability API goes some way toward addressing that limitation, allowing third-party developers to build conduits for data to travel from TikTok to their own apps — if the user authorizes this.
Through the API, developers can request access to “all available data,” or individual categories including TikTok posts and profile data, activity, and direct messages (DMs).
The data portability API is available to applicants globally, but the developer must be able to demonstrate a “well-defined use case” before they will be approved.
TikTok is losing even more songs over its quarrel with Universal Music Group (UMG), as the social media network is starting to remove songs published by UMG, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Tuesday.
As a result, TikTok had to remove songs owned or distributed by UMG by January 31.
Now, the company has to remove songs that contain compositions controlled by Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG).
The company says UMG and UMPG’s catalogue represents anywhere from 20-30% of popular songs on TikTok.
Artists and songwriters will also be losing out on royalties earned from their music on TikTok.
Adults on TikTok lean camera-shy, a new study from Pew Research Center suggests.
From the TikTok research, the top 25% most active posters were responsible for 98% of all public videos.
The study also found that age wasn’t necessarily a factor in assessing adults’ TikTok posting habits.
Another finding showed that 85% of TikTok users say they find the content on their For You page to be at least somewhat interesting.
This research arrives as a third of U.S. adults say that they use TikTok; among the 18- to 34-year-old demographic, that percentage jumps to 56%.
TikTok launches its ‘Add to Music app’ feature available in over 160 countriesTikTok announced today that it is launching its “Add to Music app” feature, which lets users add a song playing on a clip to services like Apple Music and Spotify, in 163 new countries.
The function lets users add the song to Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify depending on the availability in the region.
They can tap on the button and select the music service of their choice the first time.
Last year, ByteDance launched its music service TikTok Music in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, and Indonesia.
The company added it is is working on making the Add to Music App feature available to TikTok Music users soon.
TikTok’s latest viral superstar is Reesa Teesa, a Georgia woman who posted 50 videos — just under 10 minutes long apiece — chronicling her tumultuous relationship with her ex-husband.
But Reesa’s videos marked the first time that I went for a walk while listening to TikToks, my phone tucked away in my pocket.
“The series, ‘who the f— did I marry,’ is not something that you have to sit down and hold your phone and watch,” Reesa said in a TikTok on Wednesday.
But Reesa is taking advantage of TikTok’s playlist feature, which transitions from one video to the next in order.
When we watch Reesa do mundane things in her TikTok “audiobook,” she subtly signals to us that no matter how bad things got with her ex-husband, she’s still standing.
Nielsen today released its January report on viewing usage across linear TV and streaming, which revealed that YouTube is once again the overall top streaming service in the U.S., with 8.6% of viewing on television screens.
The new data points to YouTube’s dominance in the TV streaming arena and marks 12 consecutive months of the platform being in the top spot.
HopeScope, a creator who reviews viral products, notably saw a 172% jump in TV watch time in 2023.
YouTube has reached a few other milestones in recent months, including the 100 million users who pay for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
Additionally, YouTube TV now has more than 8 million subscribers and YouTube Shorts recently achieved over 70 billion daily views.
