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TikTok - times are changing

Since the beginning of the year, the video app TikTok is also available for download in Germany. But what looks like a nice, short-lived pastime has the potential to become a whole new form of brand platform - at least if you look at how TikTok is used in China.

From Dr. Peter Petermann, Chief Strategy Officer, MediaCom China, Shanghai.

This quote from 2005 is from Steve Chen, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of YouTube. At the time he simply could not imagine that the company he co-founded could be successful in the long term. Times are changing, and today there is no one who seriously doubts that online video has become an integral part of our entertainment culture.

Whether cool GoPro films, the tens of thousands of fail compilation, make-up tips, snacks from TV series or music videos ... the list of contents is endless and for (almost) everything there is also someone who looks at it. YouTube is just one of many platforms where online video is distributed and consumed, and Steve Chen's concern that the Internet may run out of content at some point is unfounded.

In fact, it seems that the really big boom in online video is just starting - and as is so often the case when it comes to digital, a look at China helps to understand what TikTok (and the imitators that inevitably follow) is and to what extent they have what it takes to change the category sustainably. Here you will also find the reasons why these platforms for brands can also be quite interesting.

2017 was THE year for Short Video in China. "Short Videos", which are no longer than 15 seconds, have been around in China for a while - but in 2017, this type of online video has exploded overnight. Within one year, the number of active users has more than doubled to more than 410 million per month, and in the first quarter of 2018 alone has increased by 50 percent to more than 600 million users. The useful life has also quadrupled and is now about half as long as that of "normal" online videos.

TikTok - the Instagram for video

One of the main drivers of this growth is China's second largest platform for Short Videos, Douyin (TikTok). From January to March, TikTok has gained more than 70 million new users and now has a respectable 124 million active users - and continues to grow, not least in the rest of the world.

TikTok is a kind of Instagram for short videos: you can record, edit, add a soundtrack to your videos and then upload them to the platform and share them with the rest of humanity. What makes it funny is the fact that you can use quite a few pretty cool filters, including AR technology - that turns a boring movie into a real art video in the twinkling of an eye.

Brands use this platform in two ways: as a reach medium for short online advertising and as an engagement tool. Brands who put their own commercials on TikTok are well advised to make these videos as cool, creative and eye-catching as the rest of the content on this platform. Anyone who does not play in the same style here is wiped mercilessly and wonderfully. But if the films are actually viewed, then the return on investment is relatively high: Apparently, such a short duration of vision is quite enough to positively influence the consumer.

In my opinion, it is even more exciting for brands to use TikTok as an interactive medium. On TikTok regularly so-called "Challenges" take place: These are creative, with sound underlined tasks, which must be displayed within 15 seconds, similar to a few years ago, the "Ice Bucket Challenge". Usually, a "challenge" starts first with a few high-reach influencers, but then it becomes independent and often becomes a viral hit. Hashtags allow you to find the corresponding videos on TikTok.

Brands have already discovered this phenomenon and are now using it to create user-generated content. With great success, as the example of Michael Kors shows. Under the #citycatwalk hashtag, the brand has asked users to cast a catwalk video, ideally with branded products. The promotional video for the Challenge has been streamed more than 5 million times, more than 30,000 users have created videos of their own, and the entire campaign has generated approximately 50 million impressions.

GUESS Jeans in the US currently shows that TikTok is not only an attractive platform for brands in China. With #inmydenim, the fashion brand launched a "Challenge" in early September, which, among other things, is about filming itself in its jeans. In addition, fashion influencers in a kind of makeover show how to properly combine cool GUESS pieces.

What impact does the Musical.ly successor have?

The question now is whether the current trend will prevail in the long run. So is TikTok (and its imitators) more than just a short-lived phenomenon? And if so, can brands make sustainable use of this platform as a channel for their advertising?

In my opinion, the first question can be answered relatively simply and emphatically positively. Short videos, especially when they come across as colorful and upbeat as on TikTok, completely correspond to the changed user behavior of current target groups. Not only teenagers love "snackable content": You open the app, scroll a bit, find a video with a cute puppy, then the next one with a dancing beauty, then another puppy ... and a half hour is over.

And on the producer side, too, TikTok is more than Dubsmash (a video app that had only a short trend potential): The fact that TikTok really makes it possible to create quite good content and that you can - just like Instagram - Being part of a community makes up a large part of the addictive potential that the app undoubtedly has. In addition, it also serves the ever-increasing self-drive and allows the user, so to speak, to "enhance" himself with the latest technology. Selfie 3.0.

In fact, I think the Shift we are watching in China - moving away from "classic" online video to "short video" - will happen in Germany as well. When I use my own usage patterns, I have less and less patience for more sophisticated content when I "surf". Even with Facebook videos, I often go to the next video when the three-second advertising begins. That's also the reason why I think TikTok will be interesting for brands in the longer term: not only the range but also the commitment is right. The algorithm ensures that I get to see the most relevant content, be it user-generated or just branded. And technology makes it easy to create your own content.

It goes without saying that brands today use social content platforms such as Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat. TikTok will join this list because this functionality is not covered by any other app so far. Of course, from a professional point of view, one can ask the legitimate question of how high-quality the content on TikTok actually is. But whoever sniffs their noses, remember that millions of flies cannot be mistaken.

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So after Derek was confiscated by the Bad Place police, what happened to Mindy in the finale?

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Am I asexual? Am I demisexual? Is it my hormones? Am I just picky? Is it my trauma? Is it my lack of self-confidence? Have I just not found the right person? Am I just too self-conscious? Am I too stressed? Am I not social enough?

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💕💞💕I’ve decided to abandon this blog so I can have a fresh start in the new year. If you’d like to get a link to my new blog, just let me know.💕💞💕

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Missed Connections

Rated: G

Pairing: Michael/Eleanor-ish

Tags:

Bittersweet

Angst

Feelings

Memories

Summary: Eleanor sees a unfamiliar familiar face at the park.

Eleanor walks aimlessly through the park. She’s been trying to get out into the world more and learn to just exist around people again. She smiles at a family that passes her in the opposite direction. She even throws an errant ball back to a group of kids.

“It’s actually pretty nice,” she thinks, sipping on her coffee.

But then she sees him.

A man with white hair walks by, and her heart stops even though she has no idea why. She freezes in place on the park pathway.

“I know him,” she says with surprising vehemence.

Suddenly time speeds up, and she feels her feet start following him. He’s got some distance on her, so she moves faster. Why? Why does she want to catch up to him? Eleanor isfairly certain she doesn’t even know this man.

She has to talk to him.

She follows him out of the park, and she sees him cross the street with a few seconds left on the crosswalk timer. She’s stuck on the opposite side. His face is obscured by passing pedestrians and cars, and she curses her short stature; she can’t fucking see him.

Eleanor jumps a few times, trying to get a good look at him. She catches one clear glimpse of him as he gets on the bus. The man looks up, and they lock eyes. It feels almost as though he knew she had been following him. Eleanor decides she’ll worry about being a creep later because she can actually see his face–for a split second.

“It’s him! It’s him!” her heart shouts.

It is. It must be.

Then the door closes and the bus pulls away. The adrenaline coursing through her veins subsides. Eleanor feels herself deflate, and she’s very conscious now of all the people walking around her as though she were a stubborn rock in the middle of a river.

She feels wounded when she realizes she was probably never going to see him again. Why did that thought hurt so much? Why did she care? She doesn’t even know his name.

Eventually, she can’t even see the bus anymore. She sighs, turns around, and walks back into the park.

Michael watches her watch the bus pull away. That had been close. Too close. He’d have to be more careful about checking in on her from now on.