As of 2019, students of Notre Dame Academy spend a considerable amount of their time away from school on a certain app.

This app is not Instagram, not Snapchat, nor Twitter, but rather, Tiktok.

Tiktok, as it is explained by the organization, is a social media video app for creating and sharing short lip-sync, comedy and talent videos. 

“I usually go on Tiktok for around two to three hours a day. It’s just so addicting,” said senior Max Timmer.

Social media started back in 1997, with Six Degrees as the first recognizable profile-making and friend-sharing platform.

Fastforwarding six years later, Myspace was developed and grew in popularity with nearly 250 million users at its peak.

Just a year later, in 2004, Myspace had its first competitor, Facebook.

In the coming years, we see apps like Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat come into form.

The history of the creation of Tiktok did not begin as smoothly as some of the other major social media apps did.

This could be due to the original name and format of the initial app.

The former name was Musical.ly, and the format was more lip-syncing music rather than comedy and dancing videos. 

The team at Tiktok thought the name change would “draw more people to the app and represent the app better.”

The team was indeed right as the monthly user count increased in the millions thereforth.

As of right now, Tiktok has eclipsed one billion users in November 2019.

Tiktok, in just one year, has surpassed its predecessors Facebook and Instagram as the most downloaded app in the App Store. 

Of those one billion users, researchers have found that 41% are between the age of 16 and 24.

This means that at Notre Dame Academy, more often than not, if you mention TikTok around a student, they are addicted to the app as well.

“Sometimes I spend hours mindlessly scrolling through Tiktok and laughing at funny videos. I also created a video, and it got over 29,000 views,” said Mattea Vecera.

Recently, adult users have also joined in on the fun, with over 10 million new members.

So, as you decide what you might do in your free time, try downloading this new app and discover the fun for yourself.