As the world of technology continues to evolve and expand, people of all ages become increasingly reliant on social media to communicate with each other and express themselves in creative ways. The most recent introduction to the realm of social media, the app TikTok, is taking the world by storm.

Launched in September, 2016, TikTok is a rebrand of the app Musical.ly, where users can create short videos coupled with songs that feature lip syncing, comedy or other talents. It has quickly become the most popular social media platform worldwide, surpassing Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Snapchat for most downloads in the last year. 

With more than 500 million global users and over 26 million users in the United States, Tik Tok has marketed itself to reach the group of people that spend the most time on their phones: teenagers. Forty-one percent  of TikTok users are 16 to 24 years old, and one in every eight people in America aged 18 to 24 have an account. 

It is commonly referred to as addictive, with the average user spending close to 50 minutes per day watching videos. The fact that teenagers are able to be creative and spontaneous in creating videos that can be shared and viewed around the world makes it appealing to many high school students. 

Many students here are no stranger to this relatively new platform. 

One such student is senior Elliot Rodgers, who is not only a State champion wrestler, but is also known by many of his classmates for his TikTok account, which has more than 9,000 followers. When asked why he enjoys using TikTok, Rodgers said, “I like the app because it’s so original and everyone on it is able to show off their different talents.” 

Rodgers’ videos have gained an impressive amount of attention, with some of them being viewed by thousands of people, and one viewed by over 1 million users. “I never realized how many people can see what you post until I started getting so many views,” he said. “It seemed like all of my friends knew about it in a day.” 

He said that he draws his inspiration from “the trends are usually pretty random, so I just do whatever comes to mind at the time.” Being able to use such a well-known and easily accessible app to become Tik Tok famous is something that Rodgers certainly did not expect to happen when he first created an account, but this goes to show how quickly and powerfully social media can work. 

The school has also recently created a TikTok account in an effort to embrace this growing movement, using its Instagram account to promote its new TikTok and encourages people to follow it.