From outside magazine, this is the outside podcast.

According to my decidedly unscientific analysis, if you're reading about social media in

traditional media these days, 92% of the time, it is because a reporter has something bad

to say about one of the major social platforms.

Okay, so I made that number up, but you know what I mean, right?

I'm Michael Roberts, and I will say that it sure feels like every news report I read

on Facebook or Twitter is about how they spread misinformation or amplify outrage.

If the story is about Instagram, it's probably about how all those perfect selfies make us

feel bad about ourselves.

And then there's TikTok, which, like the other apps, has been called out for causing

harm to younger users and distributing misinformation.

Honestly though, until very recently, I thought TikTok was just where people, mostly teenagers,

did stupid dances.

And while there's truth to that, TikTok is very important.

Consider the sheer scale of it.

In 2021, it was the most downloaded app in the world and in the United States, according

to AppTopia.

Today, there are around 50 million daily users in the U.S.

and more than a billion worldwide monthly users.

Beyond the numbers, things get even more interesting.

There are some fundamental differences in the way TikTok works that make it stand out

from other social media platforms.

...