WEBVTT - TikTok Part 3: ‘I’ll Be Making Bank! Hopefully.’ 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:01.680 I want to tell you the story of a girl 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:05.400 from Mobile, Alabama who, from a very young age, knew 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.760 exactly what you wanted to do. I started writing when 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:11.280 I was nine, but I was I wanted to be 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.720 a singer, and then I realized I couldn't sing. So 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.439 then when I turned to liven, I started writing wraps 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:20.160 and I wrote my first rap. It carried on to 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.520 high school and now Flow Flow Millie is most definitely here. 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:28.479 She's a twenty one year old rapper. What was the 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.880 first rap of that? Um? Do you want me to 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:36.360 wrap it? Okay, walk up in the mall, all eyes 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.440 on me, I get my swegga on with my jay's 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.520 on my feet. I'm rocking this beat. Yeah, I'm rocking 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.120 this beat. My swagga owner, Honey, can nobody touch me? 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.240 I'm a five plus five yep, shotty, I'm a team. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.120 We made it this far, so we might as well win. 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.400 Riding in my bid so you know, I'm getting paper. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.640 I'm busy stuffing on you, so I had to see 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:02.000 you later. You know, I was like ten years old 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.640 when I wrote that. Flow spent the next year is 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.920 going to school and working, but making music was her 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:12.400 primary focus. Like many artists of her generation, she posted 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.840 each new song online and one of her tracks called 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.959 Beef Flow Mix started trending on a platform that Flow 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:23.640 didn't even use, TikTok. Around this time, someone high up 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.080 at TikTok took an interest in Flow Millie. She came 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.920 to the offices and she didn't even have a TikTok 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.280 profile at the time. That's Isabel Keen Terrorists a news. 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.720 She's head of music Partnerships at TikTok, and she personally 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.160 sat down with Flow Millie and urged her to come 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:46.480 onto the platform. TikTok prides itself on helping discover emerging artists. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.120 After like, you know, fift twenty minutes talking to her, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.400 I was like, you're really funny, Like you're just like 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.200 a funny person and you're beautiful, and I think you 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.840 would do really great on platform. I promise you once 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.040 have one song go viral, your chances of going viral 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:10.480 again increase. And that is exactly what happened. And so 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.880 after that, like it just kept going up, and then 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.600 on TikTok it just went crazy. Like so it was 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.760 about a month after that labels was coming up, not 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.160 even a month Honestly, it was like a couple of 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.480 weeks and I was just flying in New York, flying everywhere. 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.560 I like cash in my head to my ass, Duda Dash, 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.000 can you make it go fast? The same my life 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.040 one of the bands. If she keeps on lugging, and 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.600 then Flo's life changed. Her fame on TikTok has given 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.799 her mainstream music success. She signed on to r c 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.680 A Records and the b ET Hip Hop Awards nominated 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.560 her for Best New Artists. Honestly, I didn't choose this path, 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.560 but I will embrace it, you know, like the fact 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.120 that my music made on made it on TikTok. But 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.080 I would just say that I'm just using it to 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.280 my advantage. Flamilli isn't just a rapper who got her 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:05.280 start on TikTok. Now she's a creator as well, pumping 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.240 out videos and growing up following on the app. And 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.160 she did amazing. She's at five hundred thousand followers, her 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:16.440 content gets millions of views, so I think that she's 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.160 very much on her way, doesn't need me as much anymore. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.200 Flow Millie was singled out as a musician who would 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:26.639 make it on TikTok, and she's not the only one. 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.040 TikTok understood that to attract hundreds of millions of users 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.079 to its app, they had to keep their users happy 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.120 by taking bold steps. That meant hands selecting the popular 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:42.280 people on the app, creating paths towards fame, and funneling 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:46.600 money to individual creators. So for the top TikTok creators 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.440 and musicians, TikTok was more than a platform. It became 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:57.040 their job. You're listening to Foundering. I'm your host, Shelley Banjo. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.360 In the first two episodes, we told you the founding 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.720 story of TikTok, how two guys from China created the 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:08.280 idea and the technology for what we now know as TikTok. First, 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.760 there's Alex Jew, an eccentric guy from Shanghai who is 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:16.560 obsessed with design and understanding how teenagers behaved online. He 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.479 created Musically, which was folded into TikTok. And then there's 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.680 John gi Ming, the CEO of by Dance, TikTok's parent company. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.960 Eming secret Weapons are advanced AI algorithms that taylor videos 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.760 to each individual while also gathering enormous amounts of data. 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.400 In this episode, we'll explain how Alex and e Ming 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.360 were able to plot a path for TikTok that would 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:44.479 not only change the world of social media, but also 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:49.839 upend pop culture, music, and the economics of fame. Suddenly, 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.960 this app from China that many people had never heard 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:57.960 of was determining multiple facets of American culture, who gets 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.120 to be famous, which music ss will hit it big, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.200 and what trends are people talking about. By harnessing its 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.159 newfound popularity and influence, TikTok's Chinese parent company, Bye Dance 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.480 made even more money and became the first Chinese company 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:19.400 to successfully create a truly global consumer app. We'll tell 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:31.320 you more after a quick break. TikTok was coming up 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.919 in the US right when an app called Fine was 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.640 falling apart. Vine was the original short video app. It 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.839 played six second videos over and over again on a loop. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:52.679 We in his speech for a get abrazon Fleek question. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.479 And even though the memes launched on Vine, levon Vine 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:04.320 is remembered as a failure because after Twitter bought Vine, 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:09.720 they completely squandered its success. Someone said Vine walked so 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.760 TikTok could run, And I think that is a really accurate, 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:18.360 uh analogy. That's Karen Spencer. She used to work at 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:22.039 Twitter as Vine's head of creator development. Karen says that 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.360 a handful of Vine stars got pretty famous and that 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:29.040 became a problem for Vine because the creators wanted something 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.760 that Vine just wasn't willing to give them money. There 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.760 were a lot of conversations had between creators and myself 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:40.320 where they were making demands that Vine pay them for 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:44.280 every Vine that was posted. That was not something that 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:48.520 Twitter was comfortable doing. In a last ditch effort to 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.799 show some love to their creators, Fine held this big 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:56.279 party in November, but it didn't exactly go as planned. 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.960 Fine through a party to just basically show the influencers 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.120 we care, we appreciate what you're doing, and it completely backfired. 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:08.280 That's Darwin Metzkert, a social media marketer. He says the 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:12.440 lavish party actually made the Vine creators more resentful. All 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.320 of the viners looked at this party and how much 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.360 money they spent and literally just went back to their apartments. 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.080 They all literally lived together one building on Fine Street, 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.120 not making that up in Los Angeles, and basically said, well, 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:25.800 if they have all this money to spend on a party, 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.280 how come there's no money for us. Within weeks, the 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.000 Viners left the platform, and Darwin says Fine lost sixty 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.280 of its traffic. Less than a year later, Twitter announced 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.360 it would shut down Vine completely. It didn't matter how 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:44.560 funny or innovative or beloved the platform was. Fine just 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.680 wasn't a sustainable business. Fine took an approach towards creators 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.600 that was common among social media companies in the US. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.880 They were essentially saying, we'll give you an app that 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.600 you can use to become famous and make money, but 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.520 you're on your own to do the rest. What that 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.520 means is that the creator doesn't feel any allegiance to 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.680 the platform. I'm sure you remember that moment when um 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.800 Kylie Jenner tweeted, you know Snapchat is dead or I've 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.840 deleted Snapchat, and those types of things happen because they 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.440 don't have relationships with the people at the companies, and 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.320 so they're not thinking about Snapchat, the faceless brand, the 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:22.760 company that I don't know anyone at, So I'm not 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:26.120 worried about hurting someone's feelings. When by dance spot musically 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.800 and rolled out TikTok in the US, they weren't going 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.000 to make the same mistakes during this delicate transition, Alex 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.720 Jew was paying close attention to the creators. I remember 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.120 like working in the office and Alex would spend like 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.800 two hours a day just flipping through his phone watching 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:49.520 like TikTok videos, and I was like, that's a fun job, 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.080 Like I want to do that more. That's Michael buzzing 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.679 over a product manager at TikTok. He goes by buzz. 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.439 He says the switchover from Musically to TikTok felt like 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.360 a balance act because Musically already had a hundred million 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:07.840 registered users, it had brand deals and famous creators. Everyone 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.000 on the team was talking to creators and telling them 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.600 that like there's something big coming and this is happening, 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:17.600 and I did some calls they were like what's TikTok. 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.439 For weeks, Alex Jew gathered all the phone numbers of 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.280 the top creators on Musically. They spent hours calling creators 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.720 personally to assure them that rebranding as TikTok would be 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.600 a good thing. The Bye Dance CEO, John u Ming 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.440 was about to invest a lot of money into making 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.600 sure TikTok was successful, and they were just on the 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:41.080 cusp of hitting the mainstream. Guys last week on the show, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:43.600 I told you about this cool app that I've been 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.679 getting into called TikTok. It lets you post short videos 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.280 of you doing fun stuff like lip syncing or acting 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:53.240 out a silly scene in Jimmy Fallon spoke about his 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.280 fun new pastime on the Tonight Show, and he did 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.760 more than just talk about TikTok. He urged his audience 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:03.080 of two point five million nightly viewers to get on TikTok. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.200 And I asked you guys to make videos of yourselves 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.880 dropping to the ground and rolling around like a tumbleweed 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:15.320 every time you hear this. So in just a few days, 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.760 you guys made over eight thousand videos. It's got over 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:24.680 nine million views. That's that's crazy. Thank you so much. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.800 TikTok says it didn't pay Jimmy Fallon to post on 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.240 the app, and Fallon's team declined to comment. But this 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.800 was a planned partnership and part of a deliberate strategy 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.480 by the company recruit well known American celebrities to shine 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.440 some of their star power on TikTok. Do you identify 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.240 a couple of whales, you pay them for a certain 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.280 number of posting them sort of a flywheel from there 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.400 because you know, the internet is like it is like 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.920 high school cafeteria is the second the popular kids do it, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.839 everyone wants to get in. This person was a high 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.840 level advisor to Bite Dance. It's his real voice, but 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.960 he wanted to be kept anonymous, and TikTok was able 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.640 to cater to these way e from a massive marketing 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.800 budget that John Giving at Byte Dance gave Alex jew 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.439 The plan was to make TikTok V place for celebrities 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.480 and artists and drive more people to the app. It 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.080 would be a major achievement for a company from China. 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.880 I think every Chinese company wants to prove that it can, 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.400 you know, penetrate the US because the US is still 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.360 dominant in terms of soft power um and so you know, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.840 this is why they invested literally a billion dollars you 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.240 know what is it a year ago on making sure 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:31.360 that TikTok was number one, which obviously worked. A spokesperson 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.920 for TikTok says they didn't spend one billion dollars. He 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.600 declined to tell us their global ad budget, but said 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.880 they spent three million in US advertising a loan. Still, 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.199 this point on soft power speaks to something I've noticed 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.040 while I was reporting in China. See American culture has 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:53.440 huge influence overseas. In China, kids watched The Big Bang Theory, 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.840 They wear NBA jerseys, and they listened to Taylor Swift. 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.559 China has long wanted that kind of cultural press. Stage 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.080 By Dance had just raised a lot of money and 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.680 they were willing to spend big to make TikTok ubiquitous 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.800 in the US. Like I mean, that's a ridiculous marketing budget. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.840 That's I think that's an indication of the willingness to 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.120 put resources full throttle. But like I would also argue, 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.440 that's just paying your way up the charts. On New 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.560 Year's Eve, TikTok beamed its logo on the facade of 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:26.199 the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building, and 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.840 on the other side of the globe. In New York City, 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.160 the TikTok logo was adorned at the very top of 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:40.960 the ball drop in Times Square. It went beyond billboards. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.360 The Bye Dance CEO, John gi Ming, wanted to flood 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.720 the Internet with TikTok ads to accelerate the apps growth, 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:52.439 and he was actually using TikTok's competitors American social media 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.079 companies as a way to gain new users. Here's the 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.240 former Bye Dance employee, John Boyd Bolton. You know, Bye 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:03.280 Dance would create slick little ads that show why TikTok's 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.199 cool and and it would have, you know, the little 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.280 installed button on it. And so they did that in 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.720 a way that I could be unprecedented. Frankly, it's really 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.439 ironic looking back that Facebook and Snapchat we're running TikTok 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.320 ads as if they were encouraging their own users to 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.520 leave and join another platform. TikTok's competitors might not have 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.360 known it at the time, but TikTok was coming for them. 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.160 Most of them didn't even know that they were spending 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.240 so much money. Um. And that was surprising to me 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.280 because it was kind of so obvious, Like how could 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.440 an app come out of obscurity suddenly be number one 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.320 over and over again and penetrating the mainstream this rapidly. 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:43.080 The only way to do that is to pay, Like 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.080 even Facebook's organic growth was not like that, if anything, like, 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:47.560 I would say, many of them were not taking it 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.640 that seriously. Um. I think maybe they regret that now. 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:55.600 That was the Bite Dance advisor who spoke anonymously. He said, Snapchat, YouTube, 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.320 and Facebook had a blind spot when it came to TikTok, 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.000 and that was dangerous because TikTok was poaching many of 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:06.199 the prized employees. One of TikTok's smartest hires was Vanessa 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.400 Papas from YouTube. She literally wrote the YouTube creator playbook. 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.280 It's like the bible for social media stars on turning 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.959 their fame into a profession. And this meant that TikTok 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.800 would run the most aggressive creator focused strategy of any 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:35.040 social media company. We'll be right back. Meet Gabby Murray. 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.000 She's an eighteen year old from Florida. So I woke 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:40.320 up pretty early and then I did my morning workout. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.040 Then I gave myself some clothes for the day I changed. 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:47.000 She's been on TikTok since the app first launched. It 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.600 was one summer. I was super bored and my mom 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:54.400 was working and I really wanted to do something fun. 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.440 And I always love to be on camera ever since 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.920 I was little. I love movies, and so I wanted 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.080 to have this goal to get bigger on the app. 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.960 Gabby now has more than seven million followers. She remembers 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.680 the first time one of her TikTok videos went viral, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.280 and I love Stranger Things. Stranger Things is one of 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.640 my favorite shows. I thought of this idea. I got 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.400 my wardrobe on and I pretended to be like eleven 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.360 from Stranger Things, UM and I and I opened, like, 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.240 put my hand out and I opened the door with 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.840 my mind, which I didn't actually do. I edit it, 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.280 but it looked pretty dope. That was the video that 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.520 got me like the big numbers for sure. I love 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.520 how Gabby clarifies that she didn't actually open the door 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.280 with her mind. Gaby quickly realized that getting famous on 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.960 TikTok was not just an art but a science, because, 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.720 unlike its competitors, TikTok gives creators a roadmap on how 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.840 to reach more people if you're on Twitter or Facebook. 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.560 Most hashtags start trending organically when lots of people post 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.320 about the same thing, but the popular hashtags on TikTok 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:05.120 are often hatched within the company or sponsored by brands. 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.920 They're often referred to as challenges. When Gabby is making 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.640 her videos, she follows the TikTok playbook. Yeah, so when 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.200 you use a trending hashtag, it just pushes the video 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:20.760 out to the algorithm more and essentially you get more likes, follows, shares, 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.680 you just get more of everything. Gabby says that after 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.720 she got a big enough following, TikTok even assigned her 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:30.400 an individual manager to keep her updated on current trends. 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.720 But I do have a TikTok representative or like a 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.080 micro manager if you want to call it that. Gabby 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.560 might have a different definition of micromanager. And um, she 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.240 actually sends like an email of like all the trending 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.080 hashtags and everything that we should be doing, like what 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.320 are the new features on TikTok and using those tips 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.440 can get you more exposure? Do you think that they work? Yeah, no, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.200 for sure. I've actually tested it out one time and 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.440 the video did super well for me, And um, it 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:03.600 wasn't something I would typically post, but I just wanted 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.760 to try it out because she said so, so I 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.680 just tried it. A TikTok spokesperson told me that using 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:13.399 a trending hashtag does not necessarily guarantee more views, and 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.280 organic trends still emerge on the platform. But I want 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.000 to highlight Gabby's point about the TikTok rep who works 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.160 with her at Facebook or Twitter. This kind of thing 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.359 tends to happen with the president or like Kim Kardashian. 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.840 YouTube does this with their really big stars. But almost 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.200 every TikTok creator I've ever spoken to with more than say, 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:35.480 a hundred thousand followers has told me some version of 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:39.520 the same story. The highly personal touch doesn't just come 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.800 out of the goodness of TikTok's heart. This is a 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.760 shrewd business move because the more attention TikTok showers on 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.960 creators and musicians, even ones who aren't superstars, the more 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.880 loyal they become on the app, and the more they 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.600 post on TikTok, the more users TikTok draws from Instagram, YouTube, 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.920 and Snapchat. So at this point you might be wondering 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.199 how much is Gabby Murray making. Oh gosh, man, you 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.200 can take a lot. I mean, you know, Charlie Addison, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.879 all those people make way more Like I mean, I 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:16.440 guess Addison made five billion this year rumored, has it? Uh? 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.960 That's insane on TikTok alone, And I don't even think 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.879 it's been a year since she was popular. Like it's wild. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.640 But for me, like on a good month, I would 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:33.480 say anywhere from ten to fift twenty grand um, which 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.119 is fantastic. Charlie and Addison are actually two different people. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.600 They have a TikTok stars Addison Ray and Charlie Jamilio. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.040 Forbes says that each of them make over four million 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.840 dollars a year. But Gabby's bringing home annually up to 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.880 two thou dollars. Let's just sit with that for a second. 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.879 That's a lot of money. And now she has her 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.480 sights on more. Gabby's decided to put college on hold 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.200 and try her luck in l A. I have representation 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.399 in l A. And it's it's a it's a commitment, 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.600 and I'm making money. I'm making a good salary and 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.960 and I think I should take this opportunity. Now I 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.840 can always go back to college. So I'm gonna be 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:19.119 making bank hopefully, right, that's the goal. So well, she 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.720 can only make bank if her manager can actually get 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.600 her on the phone. Here's Brian Nelson, who represents Gabby 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.879 and a roster of teen influencers. I will tell you 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.560 that the anxiety level for me is very high. Most 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.320 of them don't want to talk on the phone at all. 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.560 They don't like to read press or just read in general. 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.920 They like to watch video, so when Brian has a 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.680 job opportunity for them, they can be hard to reach. 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:47.520 They won't read or talk, and they're the great communicators 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.600 of our time, but they're kind of communicating like the 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:55.199 way they want to Finding them is actually our biggest problem. 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.520 To be honest, you're I mean, I wish I can 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.720 chip every single one of them. We'll be right back. 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:08.320 TikTok has created a new economy, so to speak, which 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:12.399 can support young TikTok stars like Gabby and managers like Brian. 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.280 It might sound like some incredible flute, but it actually 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.320 follows the blueprint that can be traced right back to 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:22.720 Alex to the way I look at it, Viewing a 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.920 community is very similar to running a country, running economy, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:31.560 and you want people from Europe to migrate to your country? Right? 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.000 And is what I means Europe? Facebook is Europe? Okay, 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:40.080 you do it. That's Alex speaking at a tech conference. 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:43.960 In the person you hear laughing is Josh Alman, one 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.160 of Alex's early investors. I just want to point out 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:51.280 something funny in Alex's metaphor. The Chinese owned app TikTok 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:55.000 is America, and the American owned apps Instagram and Facebook 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.840 are Europe. And bear with me here, this elaborate metaphor 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.920 is actually pretty alien. Alex likens the people joining TikTok 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.320 two settlers moving to a brand new country. How can 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.119 you attract those people to come in the problem with 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:15.520 Europe is the social class is already stabilized. For average 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:21.360 citizen of Germany, of France, they have almost zero opportunity 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:25.840 to go upper in the social class. Right, So here 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:30.280 Welton social class are standing for social media fame, and 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.119 Alex is saying the chances are blowing up on Instagram 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:37.240 now are slim because it's already so crowded. But TikTok 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:41.720 would be uncharted territory, the wild West, where average people 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.639 can move and maybe strike gold. And then these people 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.600 became real model for other people living in Europe, and 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.199 they say, hey, this is a normal guy and he 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:53.879 just went to America and he became super rich. I 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:58.359 can do the same, right, And then lots of people 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:03.600 came to your country and your girl population, you girl, 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:06.600 you can't. Alex also knew it wasn't enough to just 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.520 focus on the top creators the royal class. To use 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.600 this terminology, you also had to create a path and 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.359 a promise for the lower classes to climb the ranks 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.000 that if they post a lot of videos on TikTok, 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:21.479 then one day they too could become famous and they 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:25.600 make money along the way. Having an American dream is good, 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:30.320 but if it's only a dream, people will wake up. 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:35.320 You have to give the opportunity to average people and 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.920 make sure it got such function, make sure it was 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.640 around middle class coming up. This strategy that Alex laid 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:44.840 out would actually work to a t TikTok did draw 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:48.440 creators and artists away from Instagram and Facebook. They did 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:51.760 provide new ways of getting famous on social media, and 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.080 you can see the most extreme examples of that in 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:58.200 TikTok's collab houses. A very quick tour of the new 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:01.440 hype house. We'll start here Elevator, Nick rm It's Massy 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:06.800 Movie Theater room, Andrea's, Michael's cubby, Tony's Room, Thomas Room 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:08.639 on the second floor. If you've never heard of a 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:11.960 collab house, these are mansions where a bunch of TikTok 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:22.120 stars lived together and create videos. Race three to one. 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:27.160 It's a bit like real World meets Shark Tank. Imagine 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:30.520 a sleepover but forever and now living with my friends, 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:32.520 like these are my best friends, Like I grew up 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.880 with these kids. That's Alex Warren. He's twenty years old 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:39.360 and has around fourteen million followers on TikTok. He's one 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.080 of the founding members of the Hype House, a TikTok 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:46.200 mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Alex Warren has eleven roommates, 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:49.480 ages seventeen to twenty two, and each of them has 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.240 millions of followers on TikTok. You're never alone. There's always 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:57.000 something happening, like someone's screaming. We have a bus outside 0:23:57.040 --> 0:23:59.000 that we just got. I had bought a golf cart. 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:02.520 Like with cycles, we have drift cards. By the way, 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:04.520 I had to look up what a drift car is. 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:07.320 You know how in some movie chasings a car might 0:24:07.400 --> 0:24:10.439