As demonstrated in Africa, the rise of a social media platform isn’t exactly organic. Owned by China’s ByteDance, the short video app TikTok is betting on Africa and investing big. With enticing promises of greater popularity and lucrative partnering deals, TikTok’s ‘talent recruiters’ are luring African influencers from Instagram and YouTube and setting the stage for tremendous growth. Last October it partnered with Chinese phone maker Transsion’s Infinix brand in Kenya with a hashtag campaign called #WeAreHot to boost a new phone model but also raise awareness of the app.
SOURCE: QUARTZ AFRICA
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