TikTok Boom (eBook)

Chris Stokel-Walker is a British technology journalist who specialises in stories about social media. His work regularly appears in WIRED, the Guardian, BBC News and New Scientist. He is known for breaking major news about social media platforms, especially TikTok and YouTube. For his book on YouTube, YouTubers, he travelled around the world, speaking to behind-the-camera producers and powerbrokers, including key creators KSI, Hank and John Green, and Emma Blackery. For his follow-up book on TikTok, TikTok Boom: China's Dynamite App and the Race for Social Media, he has gone behind the scenes, interviewing top TikTokers, senior figures at its Chinese owner ByteDance, and politicians and marketing and brand professionals. Both TikTok Boom and YouTubers are the books you need to read to understand how the platforms work and how to make them work for you.

Introduction. Explanation of TikTok's power to create social media stars and the rise of Chinese tech challenging the dominance of Silicon Valley. Mentions Yazmin How, Andy Warhol, super-viral videos, Curtis Roach, artificial intelligence,GAFA, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Donald Trump

1. Haywire Servers. The success of TikTok forerunner Musical.ly, lip-synching app, founded by Alex Zhu. Mentions TikTok active users, YouTube growth, Periscope livestreaming, Vine app, Yiming Zhang, Instagram, Facebook

2. The Convention Centre, 2019. TikTok's stellar growth becomes apparent at VidCon in 2019. Mentions VidCon London,Hank Green,John Green author,YouTubers, Zoe Glatt, TikTok, TikTokkers, TikTokers, Lil Nas X Old Town Road, Will Smith, Vicky Banham, Hannah Snow, Laura Edwards

3. The First Global Chinese Platform. TikTok becomes China's first social media Goliath, ending decades when Chinese firms primarily made products for Western consumers. Silicon Valley, Facebook, Twitter, Chinese tech, Made in China, Created in China, Cambridge Analytica scandal, Chinese apps

4. China Versus the World. The Chinese Communist Party and control of TikTok. Mentions China National Propaganda and Ideology Work Conference, Xi Jinping, China Communist Party, Wang Yongzhang, Great Firewall of China, Weibo, LinkedIn

5. Creator Focus: Luca Gallone. Feature on a TikTok creator who performs magic tricks, having been on TV show Britain's Got Talent. Mentions @lucagallone, private magic show, TikTok magician, LGBTQ TikTok, cooking TikTok, witchtok, magic TikTok, TikTok versus YouTube

6. The Super App Store. Introducing ByteDance, the Chinese tech company behind TikTok. Mentions TikTok founding, ByteDance, Chinese tech company, Yiming Zhang, Alex Zhu, SoftBank, Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, Nankai, Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Toutiao, Fanfou, 99Fang, Neihan Duanzi

7. The Importance of Memes. How viral images and messages have helped spread social media apps, particularly TikTok. Mentions video sharing platform, Vine video app, Shawn Mendes, Jake Paul, Lele Pons, YouTubers, decline traditional media, Gregor Reynolds, Put Your Finger on the Screen, Disney

8. We Want Our Money. Vine short-form video app loses the support of its creators after failing to pay them enough money - a lesson TikTok learns. Vine's head of creator development, TikTok, Karyn Spencer, Twitter acquisition Vine, King Bach, Andrew Bachelor, Yiming Zhang, ByteDance apps

9. Acquiring Fame. ByteDance buys innovators such as Jukedeck as it builds its tech platforms. Mentions John Bolton, AI companies, computer-generated music composer, Flipagram, Yiming Zhang, Apple acqui-hire, Google, Facebook, Toutiao

10. Alex Zhu. Zhu's development of the app that blasted TikTok to success: Musical.ly. Yiming Zhang, Toutiao, Lip Sync Battle, Instagram Facebook Messenger, participatory design, WeChat

11. An Easy Birth. ByteDance capitalises on the success of Toutiao and launches a short-form video app, Douyin. Kelly Zhang, Alex Zhu, Musical.ly, Kuaishou, algorithmic power, Sun Tzu Art of War, ByteDance, AI Lab

12. Launch of TikTok. ByteDance launches Douyin's cousin in Western markets. Thailand, TikTok Taiwan, TikTok Indonesia, Vietnam, Google Play Store, Android phone app, Zoe Glatt, livestreaming, zheng nengliang, meibai

13. Paying for Popularity. ByteDance realises how to launch TikTok into new markets by advertising and signing up Instagram influencers. TikTok India, digital advertising, television advertising, Yiming Zhang, clicks per mille, Instagram stars, Geetha Sridhar, Hydroman, TikTok logo watermark

14. Takeover of Musical.Ly. ByteDance buys Musical.ly to expand TikTok in western markets. Mentions Alex Zhu, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, TikTok's vibrating musical note, Douyin, ByteDance global video domination

15. Creator Focus: Anna. Feature on TikTok creator Anna Bogomolova.