Diffusion of innovations

 Blog #7

                                TikTok + the Diffusion of innovations 

    TikTok, an app everyone around the world has heard about or is currently using. The app had launched in 2016, but began its popularity in February of 2019.  From watching videos to help you cook in the kitchen, to learning a new fifteen second dance, TikTok grew rapidly. Especially in 2020 when COVID-19 hit the world and forced us all to sit in our houses, and stare at screens. Many known TikToker's now had their rise to fame in that industry during March of 2020 due to being in the house and making videos to entertain others. 

Individuals saw this app, and took it as an opportunity to showcase skills they have and different talents people might enjoy. To understand the popularity of TikTok, it currently has 1 billion downloads.... which took instagram 7 years to conclude too. This fact ties into why people would become such early adopters of the app.. its growth. With this, comes many downsides. The number one negative connotation connected towards TikTok is the addiction that people, specially the younger generations have with it. Younger children, more than you think, have the app downloaded either with parents permission or without. Unfortunately, not that many parents or guardians watch over their kids on what they look up, who they are watching, or what they are consuming in general within the app. There are also many safety concerns surrounding social media in a whole. Anyone can find anybody on these apps, and even create fake names which is a fear when it comes to the younger generation using these and not knowing what's wrong or right. 

Some make the choice not to join the app, and that is okay. The reasoning to this is similar to the negative aspects of TikTok; false security, addiction, influences, and many more. When downloading a social media app, people are not doing it intentionally for others / strangers to find them and connect. Majority of us download it to connect with present friends or just to post and watch entertaining content. With that though, we gain some risks, specifically with security. The app itself collects a lot of data from all of our phones, which I don't think anyone genuinely wants, as well as who is using this data collected from your phone. Major concerns arise from that thought, which should be talked about more when downloading the applications. 

In the end, I think TikTok has done a lot of positive things for the community of people that are engaged on it. Many have found they're calling through the app, have been discovered for different talents, or even discovered a new hobby from learning it from others that showcase it publicly. Just like reading a book or going on a walk, for some people, TikTok is their way to escape the reality for a second and just enjoy these time learning and watching new things. Reality though does come into the app as there are content creators / influencers who their jobs are to educate us on real world problems through their 60 second videos. This is helpful to many who don't enjoy to watch the news or what-have-you, and can see what is happening to our world in this app. Everyone has their
opinions, but to me, I think TikTok has brought many smiles, laughs, and connections.