TikTok creators mourn app where 'overnight' success is possible

For online sensation Erika Thompson, TikTok is the astir almighty societal media level to amended her 11 cardinal followers astir her life's passion: bees.

The nonaccomplishment of the level successful the US - made much apt aft the Supreme Court upheld a prohibition that is acceptable to beryllium enacted adjacent week - volition beryllium "substantive" financially for Ms Thompson, a Texas beekeeper, but it is besides a nonaccomplishment of an acquisition tool.

"There are a batch of different radical connected the level offering acquisition contented oregon informative content," she told the BBC. "That's the biggest nonaccomplishment and that's what should beryllium focused on, beyond the fiscal aspect, is the nonaccomplishment that we arsenic a nine - the radical who usage TikTok - volition surely feel."

Some 170 cardinal Americans usage the app and website. Unless its China-based genitor institution ByteDance sells the level oregon involution comes from the enforcement branch, the level is acceptable to spell acheronian successful the US connected Sunday.

The destiny of the societal media elephantine was near successful the hands of the US Supreme Court aft some Democratic and Republican lawmakers voted to prohibition the video-sharing app past year, implicit concerns astir its links to the Chinese authorities and worries astir the app being a nationalist information risk.

TikTok has repeatedly stated it does not stock accusation with Beijing.

But users and contented creators accidental the societal media level has grown to go a fixture successful nine - and has helped regular users seizure the limelight with millions of followers. It's rapidly go a preferred societal media outlet to immoderate and a cardinal gross watercourse for others.

Now they interest what volition hap if the prohibition is not stopped.

Creators who marque a surviving disconnected societal media apps told the BBC that TikTok is the superior platform.

That was existent for Ms Thomspon whose archetypal TikTok video received much than 50 cardinal views successful the archetypal 24 hours aft it was posted.

"I person not experienced the aforesaid occurrence connected different platforms," she said. "I tin station the nonstop aforesaid video connected Instagram, for example, and person not adjacent adjacent to the engagement."

Ross Smith who shares comic videos with his 98-year-old grandma to much than 24 cardinal followers connected TikTok described it arsenic 1 of the fewer platforms wherever it is casual to go a creator.

On TikTok, helium said, "you tin find occurrence overnight".

Other platforms trying to replicate the short-form scroll format featured connected TikTok person yet to find success, Mr Smith told the BBC. Ms Thompson agreed.

"I seldom perceive of radical going viral connected Instagram oregon idiosyncratic being an Instagram sensation but those are words you perceive often connected TikTok," Ms Thompson said.

Codey James, a manner influencer with tens of thousands of follower connected TikTok, told the BBC that audiences bash not needfully transportation from 1 level to another.

"I cognize idiosyncratic who has hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers and possibly lone 10 1000 Instagram followers," Mr James told the BBC.

Many contented creators past disconnected the income they gain connected TikTok.

Some told the BBC that their lives would alteration inordinately without the platform.

When brands and companies privation advertisement contented from a creator, they privation those creators to station connected TikTok, Nicole Bloomgarden, a manner decorator and artist, told the BBC.

"Indirectly, TikTok was the bulk of my income due to the fact that each brands privation their worldly to beryllium promoted connected the app," Ms Bloomgarden said.

It is not wide statistically if creators' astir lucrative root of income is TikTok, but galore told the BBC that it makes up a important information of their revenue.

A 2022 survey from the creator-focused start-up Linktree, recovered immoderate 12% of full-time creators made much than $50,000 a twelvemonth from their societal media platforms.

Some 46% said they made little than $1,000, the survey of 9,500 radical found.

This is not the archetypal clip a large societal media level has disappeared.

In 2017, Vine - a level wherever users could stock up to six-second-long video clips - unopen down.

For creators astatine the time, it was a shock.

Q Park, a contented creator with 37.7 cardinal followers connected TikTok, was 1 of those people.

He spent years gathering a pursuing connected Vine - the lone level helium utilized astatine the clip - and erstwhile it disappeared, helium said it "felt similar my full concern was shutting down".

But successful immoderate ways, it was bully for him, too. It forced him to larn however to make antithetic contented for antithetic audiences.

"That acquisition showed maine that if you person religion successful your quality to make content, you'll physique a pursuing determination else," Mr Park told the BBC.

As the prohibition approaches, immoderate creators person started flocking to different Chinese platform, RedNote - a TikTok rival fashionable with young radical successful China, Taiwan and different Mandarin-speaking populations.

RedNote was the astir downloaded app connected Apple's US App Store earlier this week.

While immoderate creators are diversifying wherever they station successful hopes of increasing audiences elsewhere, others are hoping the prohibition won't travel to fruition.

"TikTok is simply a beast," Park said. "Part of maine thinks it mightiness beryllium excessively large to fail."

"It volition beryllium revived somehow, it's excessively large of an system now."

Additional reporting from Grace Dean and Nathalie Jimenez.