By Trent Champagne

A new social media platform has recently gained popularity among Quincy University students.

TikTok, a new social media network specializing in video making, has grasped the attention of many Quincy Hawks. TikTok users create, share, and watch short videos, as well as follow and message friends.

Like Instagram, Twitter, and SnapChat, users can watch and read content for hours at a time. Videos range from serious, emotional content to funny videos that make users laugh. When a user hits like on a specific video, TikTok tries to give the user new videos that are similar to the ones they have liked in the past.

When users open the app, it will take them automatically to the For You page. The For You page are the top videos that were uploaded since the last time the user closed the app. Users can quickly go to the Following page from there. The Following page shows the users all of the top videos from people whom they follow, rather than default ones on the For You page.

In order for a user’s video to reach the For You page, they must obtain a certain amount of views, comments, and likes. The more followers one has, the more likely their video will end up on the For You page.

Most TikTok users try to find the perfect video idea that will help them get on the For You page.

Jaren Nelson was a freshman at Quincy University during the 2019 fall semester. He has left Quincy, but was able to make the For You page while on campus. He created a video about the famous character, Joker, and received 479,000 views while 60,700 users liked his video.

“That was awesome. I had no idea it would get that much reaction. I like making videos but I was shocked how many people liked it. I got a lot of followers from it which helps the views on my other videos too,” Nelson said.

Most Quincy students first came across TikTok during the 2019 fall semester. Tanner Stuckman is a senior who starting using TikTok this school year.

“It’s new, it’s funny. I’ll usually hop on there when I don’t have anything else to do. It makes my day a little better when I open it up and laugh for a little bit,” Stuckman said.

Viktor Kovacevic had a similar experience to Stuckman. He spends time watching TikTok videos before he goes to sleep at night.

“It reminds me of vine. Short, funny videos that I laugh at. I can watch them all day and I always watch them before I go to sleep at night,” Kovacevic said.

As much popularity TikTok has received lately, it shares a common characteristic with all other forms of social media. It can be distracting and take attention away from students.

“It definitely isn’t the most productive thing in the world. I usually go on TikTok when I’m done with all that I needed to do. It’s easy to let it distract you and not do homework, or workout, or whatever because of it,” Kovacevic said.

TikTok has gained popularity among Quincy University students.