Date: August 1st, 2020 11:17 AM
Author: impertinent arousing whorehouse
Also journos: coal miners put out of work by Obama should learn to code
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/style/tiktok-ban-us-users-influencers-taylor-lorenz.html
What if the U.S. Bans TikTok?
Gen Z and millennial users have found community on the app, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. And for some of them, it’s their livelihood.
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“If TikTok did shut down, it would be like losing a bunch of really close friends I made, losing all the progress and work I did to get a big following,” said Ashleigh Hunniford, 17, who has more than 400,000 followers on the app. “It’s a big part of who I’ve become as a teenager. Losing it would be like losing a little bit of me.”
There are also those for whom TikTok is their livelihood. “It has put food on our table,” said Hootie Hurley, 21, who has more than 1.1 million followers on the app. He said that a TikTok ban would be particularly devastating right now.
“TikTok has been such a big part of everyone’s quarantine and helping everyone get through this pandemic,” he said.
Influencers who watched the fall of Vine, another popular short-form video app, in 2016 learned the importance of diversifying one’s audience across platforms. But even for TikTok’s biggest stars, moving an audience from one platform to another is a huge undertaking.
“I have 7 million followers on TikTok, but it doesn’t translate to every platform,” said Nick Austin, 20. “I only have 3 million on Instagram and 500,000 on YouTube. No matter what it’s going to be hard to transfer all the people I have on TikTok.”
Some of TikTok’s biggest stars have already successfully migrated to YouTube. Members of the Sway House, like Bryce Hall, have quickly become stars there. Other TikTok influencers, such as Charli D’Amelio and Josh Richards are also already in the millions.
“When Vine ended, all the Viners took over YouTube,” Mr. Hurley said. “If TikTok gets banned, TikTokers are taking over YouTube. TikTokers are the ones in the headlines right now. TikTokers are the talk right now. If TikTok gets taken away, these people aren’t just going to disappear.”
Ellie Zeiler, 16, said that a glitch on Thursday afternoon where TikTok temporarily showed zero views on videos across the app led some users to believe that the ban could be imminent. She said she saw hundreds of users going live, saying goodbye to their followers and urging people to follow them elsewhere. “I was like no, this can’t be it,” she said.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4595749&forum_id=2#40691637)