The recent TikTok craze has completely changed the internet.

Teens across the world have banded together to create TikTok’s and have fun. The TikTok platform is based solely off of humor, which is why it has quickly become so popular. Since the death of a similar media platform, Vine, TikTok has become the American youth’s new obsession.

“I really enjoy watching TikToks because I think they’re very funny, and they kind of remind me of Vines,” junior Amanda Deliee said.

Senior Grace Small also enjoys watching videos on the new app. “Most of the time I spend on TikTok is watching videos, not making them,” Small said.

Students have expressed similarities between TikTok and other media platforms.

“I think TikTok is really similar to Vine and Musical.ly,” junior Cara Preston said.

TikTok started as Musical.ly in April 2014. It was sold for $1 billion in July 2018. Prior to the sale, Alex Zhu, the creator of Musical.ly, made over $800 million in revenue from Musical.ly in 2017 alone. Zhu is not the only one making money off of this app.

These humorous videos that students enjoy watching have much more thought behind them than anyone realizes. Students are reaching new heights with video ideas, all in hopes of going viral.

“I made a video with my boyfriend that got over 23Kviews, and we were both super happy about it,” Preston said.

The TikTok fan base is so vast that it is near impossible to create content that every viewer can relate to. Although difficult, reaching such success is not impossible. These stars started off making videos of them lip-syncing on TikTok, but once they developed a fan base, they were able to take other media platforms by storm.

“Loren Gray is a huge inspiration for me when I’m making videos, she’s just so successful,” Preston said.

The stardom that students have achieved, and still strive to achieve, often comes at a price. Other users sometimes become envious of the success and start expressing this in harsh ways.

“I have seen a lot of people writing hateful comments on viral videos,” senior Carly Brummett said. “I think they’re just jealous of those who happen to be successful.”

Because of this, many students don’t want their videos to go viral due to all the negative aspects that are sometimes attached to it.

“I made my account private because I don’t want any negativity on my page,” Small said.

The hate being received often scares teens away from putting themselves out there.

Despite the humorous aspect of TikTok, it can often be much more serious and potentially rewarding than many students and adults could possibly imagine.