Here's what creators, companies should do as TikTok faces nationwide ban
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Editor's Note: Since the publication of this story, TikTok alerted users as they opened the app Saturday night that it has gone offline in the U.S.
TikTok might be "forced to go dark" on January 19 for its roughly 170 million American users, the social media platform said, as the ban against the app looms.
The Supreme Court upheld the ban in a decision Friday. This has sent creators and companies scrambling to figure out what to do.
"The feeling is just a massive unknowing. People don't know what's next," social media consultant Katie McKiever told ABC11.
She said she recommends that people back up their content if they haven't already. If they have too much to back up all of it, they should specifically save content that performed particularly well and garnered higher engagement.
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Some users are flocking to another Chinese-based social media platform called RedNote, which is similar in appearance and functionality to TikTok. McKiever recommended creators should avoid relying entirely on emerging apps if the ban goes through.
"I really do want to encourage people, this is what I tell people I work with, too, to make sure you move to an established platform, too," she said. "You can you can experiment and you can try other platforms, but be sure to at least have one that's established."
McKiever thinks YouTube Shorts is one of the better rivals for TikTok, but notes that TikTok's success has influenced most other platforms in use.
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"We know that TikTok set the vertical video stage for the entire social media ecosystem. So now that that is in play, every other platform has adapted to vertical video," she said, noting that YouTube, Instagram, Facebook/Meta, and even LinkedIn have incorporated a vertical video feed.
Even with the ban aside, McKiever recommended creators and companies have a diverse online presence.
"You really need to be able to communicate directly with your people and not necessarily only rely on algorithms to serve up your content," she said. "This could be through means of an email list, just making sure that you just have that direct line of communication, you have a website, you have these other means of communicating because that's ultimately what these platforms are - they're communication tools."
Though the future of the app remains unclear in the United States, it appears the decision will lie with President-Elect Donald Trump. Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ban Friday, Trump made the following statement on social media:
"The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"
