One app most individuals around the world, especially the millennials would have heard about at least once in their life is TikTok. Some of them might have heard for a good reason and some for a bad one.

TikTok was created by Chinese Internet entrepreneur Zhang Yiming who is also the founder of TikTok’s Parent Company ByteDance Ltd.

In just the Initial days of TikTok, ByteDance purchased Musical.ly a similar concept and popular app during that time. Musical.ly was then rebranded by integrating its user interface with TikTok.

This was the strategy that paid off heavily for TikTok. In just three years of its launch, the app was downloaded 3 Billion times, the fastest ever app to achieve this feat.

Now before moving ahead with the process of how to develop an app like TikTok it is important to understand what is TikTok and how does it work?

What is TikTok App and How Does TikTok Work?

TikTok is a video-focused social network app that lets people create short videos and share them on the platform. TikTok has the most useful content on genres like Pranks, Stunts, Tricks, Jokes, Dance, and entertainment.

The maximum time limit for the video on TikTok was 15 seconds and has now been extended to 3 minutes. Content creators can record the video directly from the app's camera feature or can choose to upload the video from its phone's storage.

With the use of video editing tools in-built on the platform, one can edit and create beautiful video by adding different elements to it like music, filters, etc.

What are the Benefits of TikTok

TikTok can be used for multiple purposes ranging from entertainment to education or motivation to distraction. The purpose an individual finds in the app is what matters.

So, some positive benefits of the TikTok are:

· It provides a platform & framework to create content easily

· It that has the combined features of different social network apps like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Spotify.

· It is popular among specific demography of 15–18-year olds

· You can make money on TikTok by partnering with brands that would like to target your demographic followers.

· Its in-built editing tool lets the creators edit videos easily which would be difficult otherwise.

The benefits of the TikTok app are reaped by millions of people worldwide, so let us understand the major contributors to the TikTok user base based on country.

TikTok Users by Country

TikTok is currently banned in India, so the above data reflects the user base before the ban took place a few months from the date of writing this article.

Now coming back to our main question of how to build a video social media app like TikTok. TikTok is what it is because of its features and the whole TikTok app is a combination of small and big features that were developed and integrated with each other.

So let us look at the features required to be developed for building an app like TikTok.

Features in Video Social Media App like TikTok

1. Make a TikTok Account The first task a user would be asked to perform once they download the app is to create an account with the platform. The account requires basic information of the individual like Name, Email, Phone Number, and interests.

2. Edit Videos with Editing Tools This is the most important feature in building an app like TikTok. The main feature that made users adopt TikTok so rapidly is the quick and easy video editing tools in-built in the app.

3. Create a Duet on TikTok This feature lets one artist create a duet with the video of another artist. Such features are used in music videos with a male and female voice.

4. Add own Sound Most video platforms do not let the creators easily enter the new sound and let them be used by other creators on the platform which TikTok made quite simple. So a user can easily enter their own sound on the platform.

5. Go live on TikTok Live telecast is one of the trending features among all the social media platforms and TikTok is no different. A creator can choose to go live on the platform and engage with their followers.

6. Download Video offline TikTok is one such platform that has let users use the video created on their platform anywhere they like. So the download feature is important if the user wants to share a video directly or wants to save it offline.

7. Feedback Mechanism (Like, Comment, Share, Save) The most important feature on which all of the social media platforms and their users rely is the feedback mechanism to the content being uploaded. The user should be able to like, comment, share and save content on the platform.

8. Upload Video from Gallery TikTok allows users to share videos with their followers from third-party sources. The user can choose to edit or let the video stay the same before sharing.

9. TikTok Coins TikTok coins are one of the monetization features for creators on the platform. A TikTok user can buy TikTok Coins and reward the creators if they like the content being shared by them. TikTok coins have the capability to change how creators are paid for their hard work in creating entertaining and engaging content.

10. Social Sharing Letting users directly share to other platforms be it a messenger app or to the timeline of other social media networks is important as it will promote the content on the app without any external elements.

11. QR Code to find and follow users Many times a creator or user has to pronounce their Username for the other person to find them on the platform. TikTok got a new solution to it as users just have to scan the QR code the creator obtained from the app and directly follow the other user or creator.

12. Geo-location to find content from a particular place The geolocation tag feature lets the user find content from a particular location. The content creator while creating content can choose to add a location tag to the content.

13. Search Content Sometimes users like to find a particular type of content, that is where the content search feature is useful.

14. Chat with other users Most social networks like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. didn’t offer 1–1 chat features between the users as they were aimed at different things. With time after realizing the importance of chatting most social networks built this feature and have since seen more user engagement.

15. Push Notifications

    Push notifications are the reasons some businesses develop an app for their business and in the case of TikTok push notifications are used to notify users about their favorite creator's new video, app update, trends, etc.

16. Real-time Analytics for Creators

    Real-time analytics feature has been a long-standing demand by many content creators on the platform. Analytics lets the creator analyze the performance of the content based on the type, time, and length of the content.

I hope the above-listed major features are enough to develop an app like TikTok. Every app is created with the intent to earn revenue from it, so does TikTok.

So after understanding the features required to develop an app like TikTok it is also important to understand how would the app earn revenue from the entire feature being developed and what would be the best technology stack to fulfill all of the above performance requirements.

Technology Stack in Video Social Media App like TikTok

Technology stack plays an important role in the performance of the app. So for good app performance, it is important to use a robust technology stack in-app like TikTok.

How does TikTok Make Money?

Based on our experience of building social media apps like TikTok there are majorly 2 main revenue-generating models followed by TikTok.

1. In-App Purchases The in-app purchases in the case of TikTok involve buying TikTokens, buying paid filters and editing tools, etc.

2. Advertising The major revenue-generating machine for TikTok is its advertisements. Businesses can target users based on the interests, demographics, and other parameters available on most social media platforms.

Social Media Apps Developed by WebClues Infotech

Being a professional Web & Mobile App Development agency in business since 2014 we have helped clients around the world develop social network apps. Some of our breakthrough work in social media app development can be referred below

1. Vlog Me

Vlog Me is a social sharing platform dedicated to the growing popularity of video blogging. Users can enjoy content from their favorite vloggers, explore new, trending, and top-rated vlogs and receive the added incentive of building their own viewer rating.

2. AnyFeed

AnyFeed helps users, influencers and business owners automate digital platforms across the platform and helps to reach out to a wider range of audiences. In short, a suitable platform for socializing and reaching out to your audience.

3. Popcircl

Popcircl puts you in the epicenter of social experience. Users can share media and links directly from the Internet, unlike Instagram.

Conclusion

As explained above TikTok is one of the most popular apps among millennials these days and because of the Chinese birthplace of the app, it has become a matter of trust for most countries to let TikTok operate in their country.

For example, even though India was the biggest market for TikTok the government, it banned the app because of the Chinese presence. So there is an incredible opportunity in the world that can fill the void of TikTok.