TikTok was a video$-$sharing social networking application $($app$)$ that allowed users to create, edit, share, and view short videos on mobile devices. The videos, which ranged from five to $60$ seconds in length, typically showed users in many different scenarios, including lip$-$ synching to a song; dancing; acting out comedy sketches; cooking; giving advice; engaging in activism; delivering a supportive message; or telling a compelling anecdote, which was referred to as story time. Originally, TikTok attracted mainly a young audience, but the apps range was consistently expanding to include more and more millennials and older ages sometimes to the annoyance of the younger users. TikTok prided itself on being the leading destination for short$-$form mobile video with a mission to inspire creativity, bring joy, and create and connect new communities of people.Aside from being a social media content creation network, TikTok had also grown as an advertising medium. It encouraged businesses to run short$-$video marketing campaigns, pitch takeovers, and launch hashtag challenges, among other promotional activities. TikTok offered a variety of lenses and filters for advertisers to use as an alternative to the marketing options available on other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. Compared to these more mature platforms, the competition to get coveted advertising spots on TikTok was less intense, and thus it was less costly to gain and maintain a desirable advertising position.By early January $2021,$ the TikTok app had been cumulatively downloaded more than $2\mathrm{.}6$ billion times globally from Apples AppStore and from the Android platforms Google Play store, making TikTok the seventh$-$most downloaded app of the last decade. It enjoyed an estimated $1\mathrm{.}1$ billion monthly active users, which was the sixth$-$highest global rate, making TikTok the only app in the top six that was not owned by either Facebook Inc. $($Facebook$)$ or Tencent Holdings Ltd$.($Tencent$).$ During the first quarter of $2020,$ the TikTok app was downloaded $315$ million times, for stronger growth than any other app ever. Its success garnered increasing attention and concern by US technology giants, including Facebook and Google LLC $($Google$).$ THE GROWTH OF TIKTOK The Chinese version of TikTok, under the name Douyin, was launched in September $2016$ by ByteDance Ltd$.($ByteDance$),$ a Chinese app developer. In $2017,$ ByteDance launched the international version of the app and renamed it TikTok. With the acquisition of the social media platform Musical.ly$,$ a similar app that allowed users to create and share short lip$-$ synch videos, TikTok became available across the world. Launched in $2014,$ Musical.ly attracted $200$ million users. It was popular in the US and Europe, mainly among users aged $13-20.$ Shortly after acquiring Musical.ly for $$800$ million, TikTok consolidated all user accounts and merged the two apps. The acquisition not only helped TikTok gain access to international users, but also provided important product innovation ideas based on international user preferences$\mathrm{.}1$By February $2021,$ TikTok was available in $154$ countries in $75$ languages. Its largest active user base was in India, with $119$ million users, before that country shut down the app in $2020.$ The United States, with $100$ million users, was the apps second largest group. MAKING TIKTOK TICK ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, was headquartered in Beijing. The Chinese multinational technology company, with world class and innovative artificial intelligence $($AI$)$ technologies, was founded in $2012$ by Zhang Yiming. In May $2020,$ it was valued at $$100$ billion, making it the worlds most valuable start$-$up$.$ ByteDance was the developer and owner of TikTok, which was the worlds largest short$-$video platform.ByteDance was a technology company with core competency in machine learning and AI capabilities, based on previous success in China with different companies. ByteDance used technology effectively to learn about the interests and viewing habits of its users and provide accurate recommendations and AI$-$ generated content. With growth, ByteDances capabilities developed further.TikTok was able to leverage AI and machine learning resources from ByteDance, along with natural language processing and computer vision technology, to study video content and user viewing habits and then create its own algorithms with recommended personalized feeds. Upon first opening the app, a user would see the default For You page with feeds tailored for that user based on geography or other available information, as well as currently popular content on TikTok. As the user pressed Like for specific videos or followed various video creators $($which would be listed on the users Following page$),$ TikTok would begin making other recommendations, which appeared on the users For You page. These recommendations were based on what the user watched, liked, and followed. Content that did not fit the users interests would be excluded. The apps successful customization was generally assumed to have contributed to high average usage by TikTok viewers, who were thus encouraged to explore new content and spend more time on the appAlthough TikTok was both creative and entertaining, several concerns were emerging. The first concern was regarding age. Although an average user opened the app eight times per day and spent $52$ minutes on it$,$ younger viewers $($aged $415)$ reportedly spent an average of $80$ minutes per day on the app. Both the addictive quality of TikTok and the high user base of young people was a cause for concern.The second major concern was that algorithm and suggestions could act as potential filter bubbles and provide biased feedback loops. Essentially, TikTok could make users view only a small subset of all TikTok content through the users For You page, rather than providing users with a wide range of content options, as other platforms did. In fact, the app had repeatedly been accused of racial bias and censorship. For example, in February $2020,$ an article in Wired magazine suggested that TikToks collaborative filtering and personalization tended to recommend content from people who physically resembled the user, thus exacerbating bias.A third main concern was related to the ongoing challenge of managing hate speech. In August $2020,$ TikTok announced that it was removing $380,000$ videos from US users to combat white supremacy. To assist with this challenge, TikTok created and expanded its Content Advisory Council and invited experts and community members to help develop and carry out moderation policies that would suit the community$\mathrm{.}2$Despite these rising social challenges, the apps potential for creative self$-$expression and community creation were formidable. For creators, there was almost zero barrier to entry on TikTok. The app allowed people with no video editing background to film and edit videos through its simple user interface, which contributed to its appeal across generationseven older users who were not technology$-$savvy could figure out how to use the app. TikTok provided a large variety of background music and filters for creating videos and encouraged people to be authentic. The apps high growth rate seemed to suggest that users appreciated TikToks ease of use and enablement of self$-$expression.Anyone could upload a video to TikTok and see it potentially go viral, which could result in a following, or even a career for some users. For example, Lauren Godwin $($with the social media handle @laurengodwin$)$ was a $20-$year$-$old content creator who turned the app into a career move after some initial success on the Musical.ly short$-$video app. Godwin traded her local high school community for a social media circle of friends and realized her talent for comedy after producing a series of short videos on Musical.ly$,$ which was later merged with TikTok. By early $2021,$ she had built up an audience of $21$ million fans and had received over $1\mathrm{.}9$ billion likes on her TikTok page, to become one of the most followed influencers on TikTok. Her income comprised in$-$app contribution from followers plus revenue for representing brands such as Forever $21$ and Fashion Nova. Reportedly, brands paid $$5,000-$ $$8,000$ for a single sponsored post to influencers that had a fan base of approximately five million followers. Some influencers posted content more than $10$ times per day.For contributing to the platform, TikTok offered top influencers special treatment and rewards, such as funding through the TikToK Creator Fund and the Creative Learning fund. TikTok was also planning to pay content creators. The company launched a $$2$ billion fund to help support ambitious creators who were seeking opportunities to foster a livelihood through their innovative content. TIKTOK REVENUE GENERATION TikTok offered many of the same revenue generating options as other social media platforms. Much like YouTube and Instagram, TikTok offered marketing packages to corporations and allowed brands to promote their products and services through in$-$feed video advertisements, although they had to conform to the short format and inherent informality of the app. Brands were encouraged to produce advertisements that were natural in style and consistent with the creativity, humor, and informality of the medium.Marketers soon noticed the increasing numbers of consumers spending time on TikTok and took advantage of its novel advertising possibilities, which were changing the way brands interacted with their audiences. One notable example was a promotional video campaign by the Mexican$-$style fast food franchise Chipotle Mexican Grill, using the hashtag #ChipotleLidFlip. In May $2020,$ the company posted on TikTok a short video of an employee closing a burrito bowl with an acrobatic flip of its lid and encouraged viewers to post their own version of the skillful feat. By June $2020,$ the promotional hashtag had received more than $230$ million views. The next month, Chipotle Mexican Grill issued another challenge under the hashtag #GuacDance, which generated $250,000$ video submissions and $430$ million views within six days. By July $31,2020($dubbed national avocado day$),$ the companys sales of guacamole side orders had grown by $800,000$ units and avocado sales had increased by $68\%\mathrm{.}3$The cosmetics company Este Lauder Companies Inc. also launched a successful marketing campaign on TikTok, for its brand Too Faced Cosmetics. The companys Lip Injection Extreme Lip Plumper saw a sudden sales boost in April $2020$ as a result of a TikTok video challenge, where users demonstrated before and after videos using the Too Faced Cosmetics lip gloss. These and other success stories inspired TikTok to cultivate more brands to try out similar promotional events and activities, including short$-$video campaigns, hashtag challenges, and influencer sponsorships to capture new users and inspire content creation. TikTok was also successful in accurately reaching specific target audiences thanks to its strong AI engine, which the company used to justify charging higher prices than competitors such as Facebook and Instagram for certain advertising campaigns. TikTok offered various pricing models including cost per click, cost per view, and cost per action. For example, TikTok advertisements were priced starting at a CPM $($cost per $1,000$ views$)$ of $$10\mathrm{.}0$ compared to only $$7\mathrm{.}19$ at Facebook and $$7\mathrm{.}91$ at Instagram. In addition to traditional advertising income, TikTok earned revenue from its in$-$app digital currency, called coins. Users could purchase TikTok coins in various denominations directly within the app, which could be used for gifting to friends or their preferred content creators. Users who received coins were also able to convert them into TikTok diamonds and then cash them in$,$ but at a lower rate than the original purchase price of the coins. The difference netted a profit for TikTok. In each new market, TikTok invested capital to attract influences to the platform way of increasing its user base. When TikTok entered the North American market, the company collaborated with major US celebrities including Justin Bieber, Will Smith, and Selina Gomez to create content that would attract viewers to the platform. In addition to working with influencers on its own platform, TikTok also spent a considerable amount of its marketing budget on other social media platforms, such as an average of $$3$ million per day on Snapchat alone, to promote its product and attract new users.The competitive landscape TikTok was not the first short video app to become successful. In $2012,$ the short$-$video app Vine gathered a considerable following and was acquired by Twitter even before its official launch. Users on Vine were able to record, edit, and share looped videos about six or seven seconds in length. Vine experienced enough exponential growth to attract $200$ million users by December $2015.$ However, it was competing against more mature platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat, for a share of the short$-$video app market. In comparison, Instragram had grown to $400$ million users during the same time. Unfortunately, Vine failed to keep up with the advanced features and extensions of competitors such as Instagram, which launched a $15-$second video clip function and promoted influencers on its Follow page. Vines lack of differentiation and inability to monetize, and high$-$profile influencers moving to more attractive competing platforms led to Twitter shutting down Vine in January $2017.$ As TikTok grew, it captured the attention of US technology giants including Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Noting TikToks increasing growth rate, high daily viewership, and addictive user activity, these media powerhouses acknowledged the imminent market threat and sought innovations to compete directly with the new entrant. In late $2018,$ Facebook piloted its own short$-$video app called Lasso, which was very similar to TikTok. The app was aimed at teens and was accessible through Facebook and Instagram$\mathrm{.}4$It was launched in the summer of $2018$ only in US and South American markets and recorded $70,000$ US downloads within the first four months. In comparison, however, TikTok recorded nearly $40$ million users during the same period. Interestingly, Facebook decided to shut down Lasso in July $2020,$ claiming that a great deal had been learned about the format and needs of content creators and viewers, and opted instead to support its Instagram$-$focused short video app Reels.

based on this article what is tiktok core competency?