TikTok, as it is known everywhere aside from China (it is known as Douyin in China) is one of the most popular apps you’ll find on the internet right now. You may have by now seen TikTok videos on Instagram, Facebook and even on WhatsApp, which only goes to show how popular the app is. But if you’re like me, you probably have resisted the urge to find out more, until now of course. Whatever your reasons maybe you can trust that I have you covered. For the past month, I have been tinkering with the TikTok so when it comes to watching Live Streams, I have a little idea on the subject.
To watch a livestream you need to be logged into your TikTok account. Once logged in, you simply need to go to the profile that is currently livestreaming, tap on the profile picture (a profile that is currently livestreaming will have a pink circle around the profile picture).
In this article I’ll cover a bit of TikTok’s history, a detailed tutorial on watching live streams as well as what the future may hold for TikTok in the United States. So without further ado, let’s get right on with it.
How did TikTok start
TikTok is a Chinese video sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance. The social media platform that has come to be known as TikTok is used these days by its billions of users to make a variety of short videos. The genre of these videos often include themes that are educational, funny, or involve an unhealthy amount of dancing.
Originally released in the Chinese market as Douyin (literally translates to “vibrating sound” in Chinese) in September 2016, TikTok has since then grown to become a major player in the social media industry. TikTok can be considered as the international version of Douyin, it was launched in the year 2017 for both iOS and Android users in some markets outside of mainland China. However it wasn’t until August 2, 2018 that TikTok finally became available worldwide. This was made possible after the merger with “Musical.ly”, another Chinese social media service.
Since its launch in September 2016, TikTok has grown in popularity to the extent that it currently has surpassed over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide according to data from mobile research firm Sensor Tower. It should be noted this figure excludes Android users in China. That’s for me, incredible to say the least, I mean 2 billion downloads. It makes sense now why I keep seeing it everywhere these days. Media outlets in 2019 cited TikTok as the 7th most downloaded mobile app of the decade (2010 to 2019). If all this wasn’t enough, during the years 2018 and 2019 it was the most downloaded app in the Apple App store. It achieved this incredible feat beating the likes of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and even YouTube.
I think at this point, it is safe to say TikTok is a well-known app. Let’s now focus our attention on how to enjoy some of the very best TikTok has to offer, watching live streams.
How to Watch Livestreams on TikTok
In this article I’m going to be focusing on how to watch livestreams for users that have signed up for TikTok. Apparently there is a simple way to do this for non-registered users but like I said, I won’t be covering that. Now to watch livestreams you’ll need to be logged in to your TikTok account, then proceed to the homepage.
While on the homepage, what you do next is to enter the “Following” page. You can locate it at the top middle of the home page. The Following page as you may have guessed contains the streams and videos of everyone you’re following. While still on the Following page if anyone you’re following is currently live you’ll notice just below the “Following” button there is an icon that shows “LIVE” with the number of people currently live streaming next to it.
If none of the people you follow are currently Live, the “Live” icon won’t appear. Assuming there’re profiles that are currently live, tapping the “Live” icon will show those profiles. These profiles are characterized with a pink ring around their profile pictures with the word LIVE underneath. When you’ve decided which livestream you’ll like to watch, go ahead and click on their profile picture. This will take you immediately to their livestream where you’ll be able to drop comments, leave likes and even gifts.
At any point if you’d like to stop watching the particular livestream you’re on you can simply tap on the “X” icon located at the top right of the page. You’ll be taken back to the Following page that shows you all profiles that are currently live. At this point you may choose to watch another livestream or do something else. It’s that simple and this basically covers how to watch livestreams on TikTok.
Future of TikTok
The year 2020 has seen TikTok continue its rise in popularity as well as its many legal challenges. This is especially true when it comes to the American portion of its business. Things got so severe that at one point TikTok considered selling its assets. But how did this begin, to answer this we’ll have to go down memory lane.
It was August 6 2020, when United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order which would in effect ban TikTok in 45 days unless it was sold to an American buyer.
On 14 August 2020, Trump issued another order which gave ByteDance(Chinese parent of TikTok) just 90 days to sell or diversify its U.S. TikTok operations. In the order, Trump cited a threat to national security saying that there was “credible evidence” that led him to believe that ByteDance “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” TikTok was in trouble and It was rumoured that Walmart, Oracle and Microsoft were in talks to purchase a portion of TikTok’s American assets. At this it seemed like it would be the end for TikTok but there were some more legal battles ahead.
On September 18, just a few days before the August 6 ban would have taken effect, TikTok filed a lawsuit, TikTok v. Trump. On 23 September, to avoid being banned by the Trump administration, TikTok filed a request for a preliminary injunction. U.S. judge Carl J. Nichols blocked the ban, thus temporarily allowing TikTok to remain available in the U.S. app stores. However there were additional Commerce Department restrictions set to take place 12 November 2020 that were not touched. These restrictions could have a larger impact on TikTok’s operations in the U.S. So with that the purchasing deadline was pushed to November 12.
On October 30, Pennsylvania Judge Wendy Beetlestone ruled against the Commerce Department after some TikTok influencers filed a lawsuit. This blocked the Commerce Department from restricting TikTok. When November 12 came, the Commerce Department in a statement said that in order to comply with the Pennsylvania ruling, it would not try to enforce the restrictions against TikTok that had been scheduled to take effect November 12.
However the fight wasn’t over. The Commerce Department appealed the original ruling in TikTok v. Trump. In what can be considered a legal victory for TikTok, on December 7 2020, Washington D.C. district court judge Carl J. Nichols granted a preliminary injunction against the Commerce Department, protecting TikTok from further restrictions being imposed on them. The case is continuing.
Conclusion
TikTok is a hugely popular app that probably became even more popular in 2020 due to the lockdown restrictions. It is fun and exciting to use but can be very addictive.
However, it has many privacy and security concerns, concerns that had seen it almost banned in the U.S. and outrightly banned in some other countries.
It seems like for now and the foreseeable future, TikTok is here to stay.