First, I presume that you know, there are two Tik Toks in this world. A Chinese version called « Dou Yin », then another international version called « tik tok ». They are the same, but due to different audience, and the existence of Great Fire Wall, bytedance, its mother company, separated the business.
And, I also presume that you know the real boss of Tik Tok is not that cute Singaporean you saw on TV in the American Congress, it’s a skinny average-looking Chinese man called Zhang Yiming.
With these two premises, I’ll lead you to Tik Tok’s story from the beginning in China.
Let’s start from 2011, it’s the real time when short video rose up in China, and Doyin was just one of them, and at the time no one really cared short video in general. Because at the beginning, it was mainly used among villagers to spread funny videos about their countryside life. I hate to say it, but to be honest, it was viewed as « low culture » compared with the Louvre you know. Very low, actually, near to vulgar, because most Chinese villagers don’t get education, and the village life in China is totally another story than your imagination. However, if you remember, we have the data that, there is currently 900 million peasants in China. In terms of population, they won. And that’s why short video took up within Chinese territory. I know in Europe and America, that’s not how you started.
