Tik Tok is a social video network developed by Beijing-based ByteDance that has become a global phenomenon in the past five years. The platform was formed by the merger of two programs – Douyin and Musical.ly. In 2018, over 500 million monthly active users were recorded.
TikTok’s meteoric rise was due to its simplicity: TikTokers recorded and shared short videos of dancing or lip-synching to songs. The short 15 second clips often went viral, which attracted more people.
Tik Tok is the undisputed leader among video applications
The rise of Tik Tok has seen social media giants like Facebook or Tencent launch clones of their own. For example, such an analogue is Lasso. But so far, none of these programs have slowed Tik Tok’s rise in popularity.
It was the turn of another video service similar to Tik Tok, it turned out to be an analogue – Firework from Loop Now Technologies. This is a $100 million American startup that allows you to create, share 30-second videos with strangers.
App similar to Tik Tok
Is Firework really an analogue of Tik Tok?
Apps like Tik Tok don’t add any significant new features. Fireworks is different in that it uses both vertical and horizontal angles in one seamless video with the “Reveal – Reveal” feature.
Users watch part of the video in portrait mode and then rotate their phone to continue watching in a different screen orientation. Firework’s 30 second videos are twice as long as standard 15 second TikTok videos.
To prevent trolling, the analogue does not allow viewers to leave comments and likes. What’s available? – bookmark the video, share it with other people.
The app is mainly for an adult audience and not for TikTok’s younger user base. This is more likely due to its creators, who previously collaborated with Snap, LinkedIn and JPMorgan Chase. Perhaps they put emphasis on a mature audience.
Why does Google and Weibo need Firework?
Fighting for partnerships with Firework
Google has repeatedly tried to hack the social media market and catch up with Facebook, but failed. His long list of failures includes Orkut, Dodgeball, Latitude, Google+.
Google’s largest social platform is YouTube, which has over two billion active users. But YouTube is a video streaming platform, not a social network that competes with Facebook, Twitter, or Snap.
Google seems to have recognized the huge potential to make money in the growing market for short video apps. The company is reportedly now ready to invest to get into business.
However, YouTube’s popularity also suggests that video streaming may offer Google the easiest path back into the social media market. It already started allowing vertical reels in 2018 to challenge Snapchat, Facebook, so buying Fire work, perhaps integrating its features into YouTube, could complement that push.
Google and Firework haven’t discussed pricing yet. Discussions may not lead to a deal, and may also include talk of other partnerships.
Weibo, often referred to as “China’s Twitter”, is already one of the country’s top social media platforms with 486 million users. But its core advertising business is struggling due to China’s economic downturn and competition from more flexible platforms like TikTok and WeChat.
To counter these competitors and move away from its mainstream platform, Weibo is expanding its ecosystem with new programs like Oasis, which feels like a hybrid clone of Instagram and Pinterest. Buying Fireworks complements this expansion and will give him a foothold, albeit a small one outside of China.
Cons
Try to download Firework and play around. Write a review about this analogue later.
