The top platform for short-form videos, TikTok, recently unveiled its first Visionary Voices List for Africa, honouring 15 people advancing creativity and cultural representation throughout the region.
The list showcases noteworthy contributions to African music, arts, entertainment, and cultural diversity. It is divided into three categories: creators, small-owned enterprises, and industry disruptors.
In a recent statement, TikTok claimed that the honour validated its dedication to enabling African innovators, entrepreneurs, and creators and its part in influencing the continent’s digital landscape.
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The creators’ category honours those whose captivating and dynamic material has captured audiences’ attention.
These innovators, who range from comedians and sports fans to dancers, are raising the bar for what can be accomplished on the platform.
TikTok recognises company owners who use the platform to highlight their distinctive goods and services in the small-owned enterprises category.
African creators revolutionising the industry
The platform claims these companies are revolutionising their respective fields and proving the connection between success, vision, and innovation.
The Industry Disruptors category honours people using novel viewpoints to challenge established industries. With a thirst for achievement, these trailblazers are transforming their industries, bringing about positive change, and putting Africa on the map worldwide.
“The Visionary Voices List Africa celebrates the extraordinary talent and innovative spirit of the African community,” said Boniswa Sidaba, Head of Content Operations, TikTok, Sub-Saharan Africa.
These fifteen people have had a significant influence on and off the platform. Their commitment to cultural representation and creativity is incredibly motivating.
All you need to know about TikTok
Users may upload, modify, find, and share videos on TikTok, a social networking site where videos can be as short as a few seconds and as long as ten minutes.
With time, the platform underwent numerous changes. It has changed how social media creates and consumes information, upending the status quo.
Users can make and share Films on any subject, including comedic sketches, dancing, lip-syncing, instructional films, and more.
One of the most widely used applications in China, Douyin, is the standalone app version of TikTok in the Chinese market. TikTok keeps track of its users differently from the Chinese app.
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The Chinese internet technology startup ByteDance, based in Haidian, Beijing, introduced the A.me platform in September 2016. Later that year, the platform changed its name to Douyin in December.
The company created the platform in approximately 200 days. Within a year of its inception, the site had 100 million members, and over a billion videos were viewed annually.
Following its early success, ByteDance sought to penetrate the Chinese market. ByteDance’s founder, Zhang Yiming, stated,
ByteDance launched TikTok, a global Douyin variant, in 2017. That same year, the app was released in overseas regions.
In November 2017, the company acquired Shanghai-based startup Musical.ly for up to $1 billion. Mysical.ly is a short-form video app that lets users create lip-syncing videos.
2018 saw the merger of Musical.ly and TikTok, which was launched in 2014. Both systems’ current accounts and data were combined into a single app.