TikTok creators mourn the app’s ‘overnight’ success

This is not the first time that a major social media platform has disappeared.

In 2017, Vine, a platform where users could share video clips of up to six seconds, was shut down.

At the time, it was a shock to the creators.

Q Park, a content creator with 37.7 million followers on TikTok, was one such person.

He spent years building a following on Vine, the only platform he was using at the time, and when it disappeared, he said, “my whole business is shutting down.”

But in a way it was good for him too. This forced him to learn how to create different content for different audiences.

“This experience showed me that if you believe in your ability to create content, you will gain followers elsewhere,” Mr Park told the BBC.

As the ban loomed, some creators began flocking to another Chinese platform. RedNote – A TikTok competitor popular among young people in China, Taiwan and other Mandarin-speaking populations.

RedNote was the most downloaded app on Apple’s US App Store earlier this week.

While some creators are diversifying where they post in hopes of growing audiences elsewhere, others hope the ban won’t happen.

“TikTok is a beast,” Mr. Park said. “Part of me thinks it might be too big to fail.”

“It’s going to pick up somehow, it’s a huge economy right now.”

Additional reporting from Grace Dean and Nathalie Jimenez.