Walking the Tok

Last January, Snap’s CEO, Evan Spiegel told the attendees at the Digital Life Design conference in Germany he believed that TikTok would quickly grow to be bigger than many social sites because its content was focused on talent and creativity rather than a quest for “social status”.

I was, at the time, discovering more about TikTok, and had had the same thought over and over again – it’s just so different.

January seems like years ago now. So much has changed in 4 months. The way people interact with each other, consumer behavior, content preferences, communication, work, school, relationships, even the way we breathe.

The one thing that hasn't changed in my opinion, is the underlying truth in what Spiegel said; people are looking to be creatively engaged and excited with light-hearted content. As the media sphere becomes increasingly negative, vitriolic and echo-chamber like, the stand out attractions of TikTok as a platform, the content, the creators, the fact that popularity is linked to creativity, continue to draw users in and engage them.

Downloads of the Tiktok app, user engagement, time on app all increased dramatically since the global efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. To me, this was further validation of the cultural shift in what people want to see and interact with. It isn’t conflicting news stories, it isn’t the opinions of the half and ill informed. It is joy. Dancing, singing, pranking, easy going, colorful joy.

While all of this was unfolding, I was watching, from the sidelines as TikTok navigated the turbulence in the wake of its rapid growth. Controls on false information, protections of its ever-growing user base, partnerships with local governments and small businesses to help ease the negative impacts of a globally unifying threat. I was impressed with how quickly and authentically all this was planned and implemented.

And these "user-first" company efforts were reflected across TikTok's regional footprint in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey; the first few local team members were not salespeople, they were content and partnerships folk. People who were brought in to establish a relationship with local creators, users, governments and NGOs. This was and continues to be a priority.

The ad product, which my team and I manage with our client and agency partners, is a relatively nascent part of the MENAT organization. The focus for us is to facilitate the business growth of our partners, fueling their success with locally relevant brand content that users find engaging, exciting and educational.

I’ve been at ByteDance and TikTok for only a couple of weeks now,but it's clear that the culture is very much one of doing what’s best for the greater good.

When the team discusses campaigns with partners, the questions of “will people enjoy this”, and “and then what” come up frequently. Whenever I have asked about an initiative that was or is being implemented, I get a list of benefits and beneficiaries first, and project specifics after.

That’s not to say that we’re not serious about doing business. Far from it. If you know anyone who has recently joined our team, you will know that we are building a knowledge and talent base that will scale, a set of capabilities that will help advertisers thrive and and a collection of personalities who want to support our partners adapt positively to a rapidly changing world.

They - and I - are committed to Walk the Tok,.

#ByteDance #TikTok