Social media has a big influence on a lot of teens with new apps coming out everyday. TikTok is just one of the many apps that are very popular right now. There are multiple reasons as to why TikTok has blown up so much.

Even at our own school, there are “TikTok famous” kids, including seniors Chris Guccio, Ovie Arigbe, Bailey Seaman and Daisy Colvin.

“It’s a pretty supportive app. A lot of people feel free to post whatever they want without being judged,” Colvin said.

On TikTok there are many ways you can go viral, including by dancing, acting, following the trends and filming original funny content.

Sometimes a video takes off in popularity without the creator even intending for it to.

“It was this video to this one song called “Dissolve”. It was basically like a joke kinda video but it ended up going viral. I wasn’t going to post it at first, but the sound was poppin’, so I decided to use it. A couple weeks later, the artist of the song actually DM’d me and said thank you for using his song, so I was kind of surprised by that,” Seaman said.

Arigbe and Seaman used TikTok to spark many teenagers’ childhood memories by using a theme song from a hit Disney series.

“There’s a video of Bailey and I outside of the hotel in Jessie, the Disney show. It went viral; over 10 million people saw it between TikTok and Instagram,” Arigbe said. “Basically we made a TikTok to the Jessie theme song just like the cast did. The TikTok got so popular that

Skai Jackson, one of the actors from the show liked the video. It’s crazy when you think about her seeing it and how many people 10 million really is,” Arigbe said.

There’s a vast variety of TikTok video ideas, depending on what type of content you enjoy watching and/or making.

“I like making funny TikToks, like the ones with text on them that make jokes that go along with the sound or song lyrics. Those always make me laugh,” Guccio said.

TikTok is one of many ways to interact with other people while being yourself, but like all posts there are good and bad experiences that go along with putting yourself out there.

“My favorite thing is the support I get and the amount of love that’s put towards my way. What I don’t like about it is that people are kind of mean,” Seaman said.

People don’t always realize what comes with being well-known on the app or considered “TikTok famous.”

“It’s weird now. I feel like I have to post or have to be active because there’s people on it who want to see me. It’s kinda pressuring I guess.

It’s cool knowing there’s a lot of people who care about you though,” Seaman said.

On TikTok there are people of all different ages, genders and races. It is an entertaining app that nearly anyone has the ability to download.

“I have a lot of little kids on my TikTok and also a lot of adults. It has gained me a lot of Instagram followers, so I just have to be careful about what I do and what I put out,” Colvin said.

Colvin was terminated from her job because of a situation involving kids and parents related to TikTok.

“A parent found my TikTok and reported it to corporate because they thought the music I used was too vulgar. I explained to the people I worked for how me and my brother both dance. It’s not my music; I just use songs for trends or if I just like the dance,” Colvin said.

TikTok has over 500 million active users per month, and it is considered a popular app around the world.

Arigbe said, “I think TikTok is going to fade away eventually, like Vine did. There’s always some new social media that’ll come out. Who knows what app will be trending in another year?”