HOUSTON – Despite an intense battle with lawmakers, TikTok’s ban in the United States appears more imminent, influencers and companies who rely on the app to boost (or is their sole) income are scrambling for their next move.
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Early Friday morning, the Supreme Court upheld the law to ban TikTok, unless by Sunday its China-based parent company, ByteDance was sold. Unlike the app’s demise in the U.S., the sale does not appear likely due to its Chinese ties supposedly posing as a national security risk.
Many influencers, creators, and small business owners have expressed their concern with a TikTok ban, as it poses a threat to their livelihoods. Houston-based influencer, Dr. Trevor Boffone, has been among the 170 million+ vocal users who rely on TikTok for marketing purposes to help boost the work they do. As an educator, he has been able to evolve how he teaches his students but as a well-known creator, transferred those skills to be a social media manager for various companies.
“Social media marketing is — think of it as a billboard on your phone or a billboard on your computer,” Dr. Boffone explained.
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A social media presence, therefore, can represent a company’s value, and for the 7 million small businesses that have seen a sales boost due to TikTok, losing that is critical.
Those looking at the issue through a more myopic lens focusing solely on influencers and creators and suggesting they “get a real job” but Dr. Boffone has said in previous interviews with KPRC 2 that TikTok is “not just a place for silly dance challenges.”
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Instead, Dr. Boffone reiterated how social media presence has been a growing trend with a lot of companies, and having little to none can create pressure in an already competitive job market. Especially for people in careers, they’re passionate about where a backup plan is out of the question.
“Having a presence is important,” he said. “And I know I do a lot of work in theater; having a following on TikTok or Instagram is really important to get cast. If you know it’s between you and someone else and everything is equal and you have 100,000 followers on whatever the platform is -- the other person is not on social media, they’re going to hire the person that is going to likely bring in more people to buy tickets.”
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not a TikTok user, but what’s drawn many people to TikTok, according to Dr. Boffone, is its ability to give users a way to control the narrative.
“You don’t have to be cast by anyone, you don’t have to be given an opportunity,” Dr. Boffone explained. “You just have to make good content, have an interesting angle to it and ultimately go viral in some capacity to gain a following. And so they see that they can actually be in the driver’s seat of what they want to do and make money doing something they’re passionate about.”
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As a longtime educator, Dr. Boffone admits he has also heard many students express an interest in wanting to be a creator. But he empathizes and says the appeal is understanding considering the harsh economic times.
“A lot of young people believe that basically, ‘There are so few well-paying jobs, I might as well do something that I’m interested in and love and passionate about if I’m not going to make money either way,’” he said. “Unless you’re going to med school or doing a certain business, it’s very challenging in this economy to find a well-paying job with benefits, so I think they see this as a way for them to take control of their lives from the beginning. And it’s something you can begin when you’re young. You don’t have to wait until you’re out of college, for instance, to start building a personal brand online or to build your platform.”
With TikTok’s future appearing more bleak, Dr. Boffone thinks a miracle is the only thing that could revive TikTok.
“It will take a miracle at this point to save the platform. But I think what people are understanding is that regardless -- if we have the power to make the change, we have to make the attempt to make the change,” he concluded. “And if we stop contacting our representatives, if we stop talking about these issues, if we stop caring, then we essentially leave the government unchecked to do whatever they want...This is a bipartisan issue.”