One of the most surprising things to me about TikTok is that it isn't a Bay Area startup. For the longest time every hot social media app/platform was American.
Just look at this comment thread; very few people understand what's positive about TikTok, what's new and different about it, and why both Instagram and YouTube can't catch up.
Literally all criticisms apply to Instagram too, but TikTok is not Instagram.
That's because TikTok is way more decentralized than any other photo/video platform: it's less creator/consumer relationship, and more of a community, like reddit or HN, where you communicate with video snippets.
I.e. by talking, which is natural for us. It's a big, asynchronous in-person dialogue.
There's content too, but that's not what makes the platform unique.
Why the Bay Area is blind to that, I can't comprehend.
TikTok's biggest strength is in encouraging users to post, but I'm struggling to see how it could be considered decentralized. Are you pointing out that it's not top-down moderated? There's a broad code of conduct, but outside of that it's pretty open on content, and thus I can start an account and talk about whatever special interest I have - and find others with that special interest. (As long as that special interest isn't on an opaque list of bad topics.)
I have outlined how it's different, already, but I guess I can give a more detailed answer:
* You interact with other users with videos in the same way you interact with users on HN with comments. There is a built-in tool to "quote" (aka Stitch), and link your video to a video or text comment that you are responding to.
* The "duet" mode enables a new way of interacting: making something together with other people, take and remix what they've done to make something new. In particular, using audio from other videos made something new: video memes, where people act to the audio that's being played.
If you've ever seen Rocky Horror Picture Show live-acted, it's like that, but at scale.
* Removing the friction for making a video is, in fact, a big deal. The format (vertical video), the very-much unpolished posts (unlike Instagram), the sheer quantity of them removes inhibition from hitting that record button and sending off your random thought about anything out there.
On top of this, one thing that I didn't mention is:
* Algorithm that does a good job of linking people to each other in addition to showing you content. As a result, TikTok automatically forms communities.
If you use reddit, you know how cohesive subreddits can be. TikTok's algorithm creates a somewhat similar experience by bringing people interested in the same things together.
I hope this suffices for a start.
Before further commenting, I'd recommend you actually use the platform. Forming a superficial opinion based on second-hand views doesn't result in being well-informed.