MediaNovember 1, 2019

Cheat sheet: what the heck is a TikTok?

Contributing writer

The Gen Z-targeted mobile application TikTok is finally being noticed by adults. But what is it? Here’s a quick explainer.

What is TikTok?

TikTok was the most-downloaded app in the Apple store last year. It’s a mish-mash of the deceased Musical.ly and Vine, with over 500 million active users.

The app allows you to film segments and stitch them together with sound and visual effects. It’s used for lip-syncing, dancing, and cracking jokes that, honestly, I don’t get.

New Zealand’s most-viewed TikTok (by creator @jimsmowing123) currently sits at almost two million “likes,” and depicts highschoolers jumping over a muddy creek.

Is TikTok in New Zealand?

We’re always late to the app party, but we’ve finally arrived at this one. Currently, TikTok is the number one app in the Apple store’s entertainment section. It’s transforming youth culture by evolving the concept of the “meme” once more – video killed the Imgur star!

The integration of every other app’s tools (stop-start filming, songs, filters, facetuning etc.) means it’s causing a Dada-ist resurgence in Gen Z. It’s absurd, it’s ironic and it’s anti-political. If you think your kids’ jokes don’t make sense, that’s because they don’t. You’re not missing a component, just the mindset. Youth these days are bizarre, wholesome, and relentlessly meme-ing.

The app grew out of Musical.ly, which was targeted at preteens. This is why the main audience still skews young. It got past app-savvy parents by advertising itself as a creative platform rather than social media. Yes, TikTok today is a creative platform with some pretty crack up content, but as with any app you or your child uses, remember the second law of webdynamics: information cannot be destroyed, only transformed. Your kids’ faces are in someone else’s server.

This is particularly a concern for some because not all content on TikTok is child-friendly. India temporarily banned the app for broadcasting violent content, and young users have reported predatory behaviour from older users – but they mostly have to self-police. And with apps from competing governments and companies all on the same phone, they can.

So why is my child yelling “OK boomer” at me?

“OK boomer” is just the latest meme on TikTok. It’s both a dismissal and a rallying cry. Gen Zers will use the phrase in response to anything said by an adult. I got called a boomer the other day and I’m only 27. It’s a classic bit of teenage rebellion, but it also speaks to the generational cruelty boomers have inflicted on today’s kids. The Amazon is burning, climate legislation is toothless, homophobes and racists run wild with power, and rent – let alone owning actual property – is unaffordable. Go to school, think of your future… OK boomer – what future?

Why is TikTok in the news?

The app was developed by Chinese tech company ByteDance, which was valued at $79 billion last year. There were rumours the company was about to go public and was looking at an initial release in Hong Kong. They’ve denied this and said they have no plans to go public in Hong Kong in Q1. This could be interpreted as “we might do it in Q2”.

ByteDance is also working hard to ease political concerns over the use of TikTok. It’s alleged the app has censored content based around the Hong Kong protests and human rights breaches in Xinjiang. Earlier this year, it also settled allegations in the US that it illegally collected personal information from children.

Why is it important?

The US powers-that-be view TikTok as a threat. They see it as a way of disseminating information that isn’t owned by Apple or Amazon, so the government can’t control it. It uses a smart piece of technology – the AI that runs its algorithms and homepages is loved by users and advertisers alike.

The app is a player in the technological cold war playing out between the US and China, as well as a potential political tool. In a letter to the director of National Intelligence, two senators stated: “TikTok’s terms of service and privacy policies describe how it collects data from its users and their devices, including user content and communications, IP address, location-related data, device identifiers, cookies, metadata, and other sensitive personal information … With over 110 million downloads in the U.S. alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore.”

Keep going!

From next week, Guardian readers from New Zealand will be served a unique homepage (image: Tina Tiller)

MediaNovember 1, 2019

The Guardian launches New Zealand expansion

Duncan Greive

Founder

From next week, Guardian readers from New Zealand will be served a unique homepage (image: Tina Tiller)

Its first full-time reporter will lead the project, which includes a dedicated section of its homepage for New Zealand.

The Guardian Australia is leading a significant move into New Zealand, confirming that it has hired its first full-time reporter in New Zealand and is introducing a new variation on the homepage specifically served to New Zealanders. In response to enquiries from The Spinoff, a Guardian spokesperson confirmed the move, saying “we are going to increase the number of stories that we do – that means more news, commentary and features on the subjects we already know New Zealanders care about.”

Prior to now, its New Zealand coverage has predominantly been handled by Eleanor Ainge-Roy, a freelance journalist based in Dunedin. The Spinoff understands she has now been made a full-time employee of the Guardian. Additionally, Charlotte Graham-McLay, who has been covering New Zealand for the New York Times, has updated her Twitter bio to read “New Zealand reporter @guardian”.

Already, stories with strong New Zealand links carry a targeted call-to-action: “We are expanding our coverage of New Zealand. Please help us by supporting our independent journalism”, reads a note above New Zealand themed stories.

Text across a recent RWC story in the Guardian (image: Screengrab)

While the move is characterised by the Guardian as “a gentle increase”, the spokesperson noted that “if readers respond positively, we hope to do more.”

The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust, a not-for-profit set up to oversee its operations, and has become one of the most viewed global news sites. While many international news organisations have erected paywalls in recent years, the Guardian’s signature success has been its reader revenue model, providing extra services in return for monthly donations.

When asked about the move, media commentator and former editor of the New Zealand Herald Gavin Ellis described it as “beneficial” for consumers, while sounding a warning about the potential for it to further impact what is already a severely strained New Zealand media market. He called it a “two-edged sword”, and characterised his concerns as relating to its impact on local journalism, should New Zealanders contribute to the Guardian over the reader revenue programmes of local organisations.

“With the best of intentions, the Guardian is not going to be covering local issues,” he said. “Its focus will be national stories, and thus the ability of our news media to reflect New Zealand to itself is diminished.”

A recent Horizon survey revealed that just 8% of New Zealand adults said they were prepared to pay for online news, and Ellis feared the strength of the Guardian brand might move some audiences to prioritise it over the likes of the Herald’s paywall.

“There’s something about New Zealanders that place higher value on overseas news organisations’ work,” said Ellis. “The allure of the Guardian name could induce younger audiences to move to that platform at the expense of other ones.”

The Guardian spokesperson stressed that this was a “small section”, amounting essentially to a box on the site’s international homepage when accessed from New Zealand and that it would not resemble the site’s landing page in Australia. A private philanthropist funded its arrival in Australia, though it has since become a strong player in the Australian digital news market with significant Australian revenues through readers and advertising sales.

The New Zealand presence will be staged much more slowly. “If you read the Guardian in New Zealand currently you are likely to be getting the international edition of our website,” the spokesperson said. “From next week when you land on the international edition in New Zealand you should see a small section showcasing some of our new stories from inside the country as well as stories from around the world that affect New Zealanders.”

The Guardian has become renowned for strident coverage of issues like climate change, operating from a traditionally left-liberal perspective in its outlook. After committing to a free model, it opened its reader revenue programme in 2014. After many years in the red, the Guardian revealed it was breaking even in 2019. This time last year its editor, Katharine Viner, said the company had more than a million financial contributors, and in May it registered over 650,000 regular supporters.

The New Zealand section will launch early next week.