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The social network is preparing a competing application of the Chinese service, one of the top ten most downloaded applications in the world on Apple and Android smartphones.
Facebook is in the mood to dance. The social network is preparing a new competing service from TikTok, a very popular application for young Internet users. The latter makes it possible to record videos of oneself dancing and singing on music tracks. Developed by the Chinese group ByteDance, it recently merged with its biggest competitor, Musical.ly, bought last year for $ 800 million. In France, the application is one of the ten most downloaded services on iPhone and Android smartphones.
According to the Techcrunch site, Facebook is preparing a service that resembles TikTok in every respect. It is an independent application, accessible outside the social network, "dedicated to adolescents and creation," says an unnamed internal source cited by Techcrunch. Like TikTok, it allows its users to film themselves in "selfie" mode, with the front camera of the phone, to record themselves dancing and singing on their favorite songs. This application, whose official release date is unknown, is developed by Facebook employees in charge of its products in the video, including its Watch platform.
Success with young people
Launched in 2014, Musical.ly quickly caught the attention of the Web industry. The service is based on a principle similar to that of Instagram or YouTube, two platforms also very popular with young Internet users: a simple use, based on the image, and allowing any user to create fun content in a few minutes. Teenagers have become real stars (like the young Jacob Sartorius, who has since begun a career in music) presenting choreographed videos and special effects a little confusing for neophytes. In November 2017, Chinese media group Beijing ByteDance Technology bought Musical.ly for $ 800 million. This summer, the brand officially disappeared to merge with TikTok (known as "Douyin" in China), a competing Chinese service owned by ByteDance.
Excerpts from the Tik Tok account of the Japanese pop band Perfume
What interests Facebook is that TikTok is not limited to music and play-back. Its users enjoy replaying movie scenes, sketching or challenging themselves. It's an ultra viral social network popular with young Internet users around the world. Prior to its merger with Musical.ly, TikTok was mostly popular in Asia. Musical.ly, he is acclaimed by Western teenagers. This summer, TikTok claimed 500 million active users. Musical.ly, he claimed about 100 million.
This is not the first time Facebook has copied a popular app; Mark Zuckerberg has even made one of his specialties, enriching his social network features gleaned from competitors. Snapchat has been particularly vulnerable to this strategy, unable to fight the strike force and the audience of the world's leading social network. The interest of Facebook for TikTok is in any case less and less discreet. In June, he launched a play-back feature, "Lip Sync Live," which allows users to film themselves live singing on a song. Other options centered around music followed, such as the ability to put "stickers" dedicated to a song on his stories Instagram or Facebook.
This year, the social network has announced a series of agreements with record companies or representatives of rights holders in the music, to legally exploit their repertoire and to pay the artists. This is particularly the case with Sacem in France, Warner Music Group and Universal Music. Facebook is therefore well placed to grow in the online music sector. However, this is not the first time that the social network tries to conquer the heart of teenagers, a volatile audience that it has trouble keeping in its lap. The success of these initiatives is mixed. His application of Instagram photos and videos is actually very popular. But other attempts worked much less well, like its Slingshot, Riff or Lifestage applications. All were quickly abandoned because of lack of success.
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