The Rise of TikTok and Understanding Its Parent Company, ByteDance

bytedance's first hit was an algorithmic news product called toutiao. then in may 2015, toutiao began experimenting with video on its front page. in just over a year, video clicks began exceeding article clicks. bytedance had multiple teams work on different video ideas. the winning concept eventually became tiktok.

called douyin in china, the app followed a similar playbook to alibaba - signing hundreds of MCNs, building new tools for brands, launching a wave of campaign partnerships with celebs, artists, comedians, influencers and famous shows.

Creating a UX where users had to decide on virtually nothing—and the app just learned from their behavior—was TikTok's monster idea in an otherwise crowded boneyard. Everything else about its product and network grew from the powerful way that it connected consumers to creators without explicit follow actions. 

When a creator posted a video, TikTok showed it to a sample audience and then expanded to bigger targeted audiences if it did well—a form of a recursive publishing feedback loop. Creators with no followers could still reap rewards for videos that were funny and understandable by anyone. This was uniquely powerful for the medium of short-form video,... See more