Beyond the cottagecore—and picnic b**ch—content, Jacinda Arden impersonators and chaotic Harry Styles comedy skits, TikTok is perhaps best known for the average American teens who’ve used dance vids to leverage themselves into superstars. While your parents might never have heard of them, Charli D’Amelio is getting a TV show and a beauty brand, as is Addison Rae, not to mention the seemingly endless amount merch notable users are flogging. Now though, three members of the Sway House are preparing to leave the app for a competitor: Triller.
Why are Sway House members leaving TikTok?
While it hasn’t been taken down or officially banned yet, the future of TikTok is pretty uncertain in a bunch of countries, in particular the U.S. The speculation comes after clashes between the Chinese government and a number of countries, as well as security concerns and claims that the app collects your data. (Which pretty much *every* app does, but people are worried nonetheless.)
Sway House members Josh Richards, Griffin Johnson, and Noah Beck have all made the move over to Triller. “After seeing the U.S. and other countries’ governments’ concerns over TikTok—and given my responsibility to protect and lead my followers and other influencers—I followed my instincts as an entrepreneur and made it my mission to find a solution,” Richards said in a statement.
Twitter seems to be split on whether that’s cause for a “goodbye and good riddance,” farewell or poking fun at how dramatically the teens are *checks notes* switching apps.
Richards is investing in the app and joining their team as Chief Strategy Officer while Johnson and Beck will be equity shareholders.
What is Triller?
Triller is essentially an AI-driven music video and entertainment platform. Originally released in 2015, it essentially allows users to create a mini music video by recording different clips attached to a song snippet and then editing them together randomly. This does mean, unlike TikTok, there’s far less creative editing.
How many people use Triller?
Right now, the app is sitting at around 64 million users, which is small change compared to TikTok’s estimated two billion. However, this could all change if TikTok is officially banned or more big-name TikTokers leave the app. Johnson explained to the LA Times that he’d continue to use TikTok, just less frequently. “We will be posting but a lot of our posts will be more trying to move them off of that platform onto Triller,” he explained.
How is Triller different to TikTok?
The apps are ultimately pretty different, TikTok was created for micro-entertainment videos and Triller for music videos. Creative editing is a huge part of what’s made TikTok so successful, and if there was a closer competitor it might actually be Byte. We’ll be intrigued to see the apps fight it out for users if the fall of TikTok ever does come.
Screen record your favourite videos for safety, we guess!
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