Data Analysis Project

Is TikTok taking over?

For years, the dominant social media platforms were Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Now, a new app, TikTok, has emerged and has grown immensely since its launch in 2016. The main goal of this study is to see how prominent TikTok is in the lives of university students and high school students as content uploaders and viewers. The significance of this topic relates to how technology is influencing our world today.

Who created TikTok?

In 2018, a Chinese company, byteDance, collaborated with music.ly to produce TikTok.

How did TikTok become popular?

With the increasing use of new technology, apps like TikTok have become widely used as a form of entertainment and communication for much of the world’s youth. Recent studies have proven that TikTok is now the most downloaded Apple iOSvideo app for users between the ages of 13 and 18.

Hypothesis Statement

H0 : We assume that most creators on TikTok are in high school and female. (claim)

Ha: Most creators on TikTok are in college and male.

H0 : We assume that people who are solely viewers watch videos through other social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Ha : People who are solely viewers download TikTok to watch videos.

Research Questions

1. Which gender use TikTok more?

2. Which age group uses TikTok more: college or high school students?

High School Students

University Students

Who is our focus on?

Our target population is high school and university students of all genders who use social media. Our sample population was Vanguard University students, ages 17-22, and high school students, ages 12-18.

We had 86 college students and 55 high school students complete the survey, for a total 141 students.

The Method We Used

Participants were gathered through a convenience sampling method. An online survey was created and conducted through SurveyMonkey, asking a series of seven questions.

The total amount of responses received for university students was 88 while the amount received for high school students was 55.

Key Findings

College

High school

• Do not have the app downloaded
• Watch videos through Twitter/Instagram
• Mainly viewers
• Rarely/Never post as creators

Similarities

• Have TikTok downloaded
• Both viewers and creators
• Upload more frequently
• Post once or twice a week/month

• Both sample populations were mainly female
• Instagram was the most popular way to view videos

Analysis of Data

Through the results, we were able to see that most students, in both sample populations, were female. Along with this, the results proved that highschool students have TikTok downloaded and use it more frequently than their college counterparts. Despite not having the app, college students still watch TikTok videos through two main social media platforms: Twitter and Instagram. If college students did have the app downloaded, they used it mainly for viewing purposes as seventy-five out of eighty-six respondents chose the “I don’t post” option. In comparison, when looking at the highschool population, a majority of the students responded that they were both a viewer and uploader.

Analysis of Data

Only 28% of college students surveyed have the app downloaded, and only 48% of these college students create and upload videos. Instead of downloading the app, university students were more likely to watch TikTok videos through other social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. The responses from the highschool students differ in that they upload and post more content onto the app than that of university students; 69% of surveyed high school students have the app downloaded and 54% of these students upload videos to the TikTok app. This entails that highschoolers downloaded the TikTok app more, in order to watch, create, and upload videos. Overall, the total amount of students surveyed who use the TikTok app or watch the videos on some other media is 85% of all students surveyed; an overwhelming majority.

Our Findings

Conclusion

1. Which gender users TikTok more?

The results showed that females use TikTok more, whether it is as a viewer or creator.

2. Which age group uses TikTok more: college or high school students?

Based on the responses from university and high school students, we can draw the conclusion that high school students use TikTok more. The responses showed that high school students tend to download the app more than college students. Along with this, high school students use the app to view and create more than college.

Implications for Further Study

Implications for further study includes having a larger amount of participants and conducting a deeper study on the use of TikTok by spreading the survey to other states. By spreading it out, we can see which states are more impacted by TikTok. Through the data collected, businesses can learn different ways to reach out to consumers and what modes are most popular to reach their intended audience. As future educators, we can see how TikTok relates to education in helping students create short videos to retain/apply information.

References

Bresnick, E. (2019). Intensified Play: Cinematic study of TikTok mobile app.

Liqian, H. (2018). Study on the perceived popularity of TikTok.

Ting, D., O'Reilly, L., Peterson, T., Keywee, Ting, D., Willens, M., & Lucinda Southern. (2019, October 30). Everything you need to know about ByteDance, the company behind TikTok. Retrieved from https://digiday.com/media/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bytedance-the-company-behind-tiktok/.

Zhou, Q. (2019). Understanding User Behaviors of Creative Practice on Short Video Sharing Platforms – A Case Study of TikTok and Bilibili. (Electronic Thesis or Dissertation). Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/