With TikTok expected to reach 1.2 billion active users this year, the app is wasting no time executing efforts to foster new talent and double down on its efforts to help its community of creators thrive. This includes helping talent find innovative ways to connect with their audience and cultivate best practices to bring their videos to the next level.
Here’s a quick overview as to how the company aims to make good on this mission.
The Black Lives Matter movement and algorithmic bias
In 2020, particularly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, platforms including TikTok were confronted directly on issues of bias and content suppression. Reports of videos being taken down, muted or hidden from followers as a result of their support of the movement surfaced in addition to instances where community guidelines were unfairly applied.
Many began to demonstrate a commitment to showing support for Black creators with action via dedicated programs. In August, for example, Facebook introduced a Black creatives program and committed $25 million to Black creators on Facebook and Instagram. Earlier this month, YouTube rolled out its multi-year commitment to support Black creators with its #YouTubeBlack Voices fund.
Introducing the TikTok for black creatives incubator program
In a new push, TikTok announced TikTok for Black Creatives incubator program to invest in Black creatives and music artists on the app. The initiative follows on the heels of the platform’s focus on Blackout Tuesday and the #ShopBlack campaign to boost Black-owned businesses this past fall. The company also launched a new online hub to provide Black business owners with support and education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This program is intended to identify, support, and elevate the next generation of culture-driving Black creators and artists by giving them the often-hidden tools and opportunities that can help them transform their creativity into successful careers,” shared Kudzi Chikumbu, Director of Creator Community at TikTok in a statement to TIME Magazine.
The three-month program, per the official announcement, will give 100 Black creators and music artists the opportunity to have their voices amplified by participating in town halls with Black entrepreneurs and celebrities in addition to community-building forums and educational events with TikTok executives.
Simplifying the process to becoming a creator
More broadly, TikTok hopes to make 2021 a year where anyone’s aspirations to create can be achieved without pressure or complexity.
“While becoming a creator is as simple as tapping a few buttons, thriving as a creator takes time, dedication, and some education. With the different tools, analytics, effects, and creative ideas to balance on a TikTok account, making a strategy for creating content can be daunting,” the company shared.
The platform’s solution? A one-stop-shop education hub for all the basics across six key categories such as:
- Getting Started on TikTok
- TikTok Creation Essentials
- TikTok Foundations for Success
- TikTok Content Strategy
- Community Guidelines and Safety
- Getting Paid to Create
Each category offers video tutorials with insights to add to your TikTok toolkit and addresses important questions around establishing a presence on the app and how to get paid to create. The resources aren’t only for beginners. “For avid or even expert TikTok creators, the Creator Portal will also feature articles that help interpret community trends, dive deeper into the use of sound and music, and spotlight creative effects, helping to inspire and diversify content creation,” the announcement added.
In tandem, TikTok created the @creatorportal account, which will showcase faces from the video creation platform’s community including @coachmichelle, @flossybaby, @lgndfrvr, @siennamae—and share videos on how to join them.
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