These days, you know it\u2019s a big news story when Sens. Tom Cotton, R-AR, and Chuck Schumer, D-NY, agree on something. And the news last week was that legislators on both sides of the aisle are worried about TikTok.
\nLast month, a single issue of \u201cThe Bison\u201d featured three different articles on the wildly popular video-sharing app used by a billion people worldwide. None of these articles mentioned concerns that the Chinese-owned platform could be a threat to national security, but that is the current buzz on Capitol Hill. More on that later.
\nI got a master class on TikTok this past summer as I witnessed my niece skyrocket to celebrity status on this app. For years, this talented elementary school teacher built a huge fan base with her six-second videos on Vine. It didn\u2019t take her long to perfect the genre, and her signature blend of sarcasm, slapstick comedy and cheeky stunts made her internet-famous.
\nWhen Vine shut down in 2017, my niece moved her operation to Instagram and then to YouTube and TikTok. She\u2019s funny and fearless and has gone to great lengths to amuse her fans. No longer limited to the six-second format, she has filmed herself eating hot chili peppers. She has covered her face with tattoos. She has taken the Gummy Food Challenge and chewed on a jelly-bean hamburger while the cameras were rolling. In fact, whatever challenge is the latest online craze, she puts her own spin on it.
\nThere was a time in human history when the apex of artistic achievement was to write an epic poem or compose a symphony or sculpt a statue. We are now at a different time in human history. The short video is king.
\nThe media theorist Clay Shirky coined the term \u201ccognitive surplus\u201d to describe the trillions of spare hours available to us all. Before the internet, he argued, people spent much of that leisure time in front of televisions. But now, content-sharing platforms have enabled us to become creators and have provided an audience for our talents.
\nMy niece has not only captured this audience but has also learned how to make money from it. Like other social media apps, TikTok users can hold live streaming events after they have gained at least 1,000 followers. While I was home during the summer, I listened in on a few of her sessions and marveled at how well she could hold a crowd for over an hour.
\nLive streaming gives ordinary people a chance to hang out with influencers they admire. With a wide audience for her videos, my niece has a built-in fan base that wants to interact with her and encourage her creativity. It\u2019s the same principle for readers who go to book signings or music buffs who go to concerts. Except you don\u2019t have to leave the house to be near the celeb. You just sign in when she \u201cgoes live.\u201d
\nAnd now you can hand over money, too. TikTok allows users to send cash gifts through the app \u2014 via direct bank transfer. Of course, they don\u2019t call them cash gifts. I learned this when I overheard my niece thanking her fans for the \u201cpandas,\u201d \u201cconcerts\u201d and \u201cdrama queens.\u201d As it turns out, these are euphemisms for different monetary amounts. It helps streamers avoid the bluntness of having to thank a fan for sending 20 bucks.
\nMy niece livestreams several times per week and usually makes between $50 and $400 per session \u2014 and sometimes considerably more. TikTok gets half the take.
\nMeanwhile, I only get 25% royalties on the book I wrote in 2014 and have 600 unsold copies left. Clearly, I picked the wrong way to cash in on the digital era.
\nGiven the fact that many TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 14, some critics frown on the practice of influencers whipping their young fans into a frenzy of online gifting. And my niece has discouraged some of her youngest fans from giving. Of course, these gifts are not all that different from donations to the guitar player on the sidewalk. They are ways of supporting an art form that is generally given away for free.
\nBack to the evening news. The fact that legislators fear TikTok could potentially be used as a medium for spying on Americans is a serious cause for concern. I saw one video on the site of a yak sticking his head into a car and wagging his tongue. The symbolism is ominous.
\nJust the same, I would start going live on TikTok myself, but I already do a dozen live events per week. In one of them I have 40 regular followers who listen in for an hour. It\u2019s called 11 o\u2019clock World Lit. No donations expected \u2014 they\u2019ve given enough \u201cdrama queens\u201d in tuition already. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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