TikTok is not Will Smith’s place. It is not the place of The Rock, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande nor Kylie Jenner. The place for them is Instagram, because they are too old and have too few followers to really count compared to the real kings of the platform most used by the very young. Indeed: compared to real queens, because 3 out of 5, among the most clicked profiles on TikTok, are from very young girls who up to a couple of years did not even know who they were.
For a few days, the 21-year-old has also entered this Olympus of social networks Khabane Lame, who quickly became the most followed Italian tiktoker in the world. Quickly for real: last May 17 he was not even in the Top 10, the next day he had exceeded 11 million followers and today he has 60 million. He made just under $ 50 million in exactly one week.
How do you succeed on TikTok?
This speed, this sudden and sudden success (that of Khabi is not the only case) is one of the peculiar characteristics of TikTok, also linked to its enormous diffusion: used every month, in Europe alone, by over 100 million people, guarantees a visibility that at the moment no other site can offer. In short: the large numbers are also due to the enormous catchment area.
And then? What are the reasons behind these exploits? It’s hard to say for sure: despite what the various experts suggest, there is no doubt that the platform rewards who is original and stands out, rather than those who follow trends, and is actually very democratic in this, allowing even complete strangers to reach the top of the charts. Then, it is essential to exploit one’s own niche of competence (understood in the widest possible sense), once it has been found, and also be short: On TikTok, the most successful videos have an average duration of 7 seconds.
The 5 most followed accounts on TikTok
(ranking updated to 26 May)
Charli D’Amelio (age 17 – 116.4 million followers)
It was the first to exceed 100 million followers, succeeding in just over a year (the first channel to exceed 100 million subscribers on YouTube did so in 14 years). He started with ballet and lip-sync, he grossed out last year $ 4 million from sponsors, has written a book, has her own collection of clothes and will take part in two series with her family and her sister (she is also on TikTok, but has only 52 million followers).
Addison Rae Easterling (20 years old – 80.7 million followers)
Charli’s only real rival (in 2020 he grossed more than her): arrived on the platform thanks to ballets, she recorded a record, signed collaboration with companies such as Reebok, L’Oréal, Hollister and American Eagle and will star in the remake of Kiss Me, a rather well-known 1999 film in the United States.
Bella Poarch (age 24 – 69.9 million followers)
Originally from the Philippines, but a long time resident in the United States, she debuted on TikTok just over a year ago, achieving incredible success thanks to decidedly out of the ordinary clips: her M to the B (below) was the most viewed of 2020, with almost 607 million views, 50 million likes and 2 million comments. She too has incised a disc and has a clothing line that bears her name.
Khabane Lame (21 years old – 60.3 million followers)
He lives in Chivasso, in the province of Turin, where he moved from Senegal when he was just one year old: left jobless due to the coronavirus, has reinvented himself on TikTok, making short, fun, no-sound clips showing how to easily solve everyday problems. His very fast growth was noticed (also) by Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, who also gave him a like.
Zachary Michael King (31 years old – 60 million followers)
The oldest in the Top 5, but perhaps also the one with the most real-world skills: is a director and illusionist, lives in Los Angeles and is best known for his short videos in which he seems to have magical powers. It started on YouTube, then moved to Vine and came to TikTok in 2016, when the platform was still called Musical.ly. His most viewed clip in 2019: you can see him riding a flying broom, like a modern one Harry Potter. But of course it’s a trick.
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