Social video app TikTok ($PRIVATE:BYTEDANCE) is jockeying against digital marketplace leaders like Facebook ($FB), but the company's censorship and data privacy issues are beginning to take the spotlight from its scale and trajectory.
Regulators have begun to paw around the company's M&A and the company is reportedly considering splitting off from its parent company - something that would likely delight big-name US investors like KKR and General Atlantic. That's because - according to research service Pitchbook - they stand to benefit from TikTok's sale, or independence, as it has grown to $75 billion in value as a startup.
TikTok reportedly has more than 600 million active users, and they're mostly happy with the app - in the Apple ($AAPL) Store, TikTok has maintained a high rating of 4.5 out of 5 (not shown). The image above tracks the number of ratings submitted to Apple by users - and that is up 92% this year.
It's impressive when a social network's users are flocking to another social network just to keep track of it. But, that's what our second chart reflects - it tracks Twitter ($TWTR) followers of TikTok over time, and a rise of nearly 50%. It may also be a sign of the development of the social media landscape that budding TikTok stars are still eager to hop onto 'older' social networks to boost sharing - and there is no dearth of TikTok video content re-adapted to Twitter.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.