The way Alex Zhu — who today heads up the video app TikTok that’s taken the teen and 20-something demographics by storm — tells the service’s origin story, it involves a train ride and a eureka moment.
Back in 2014, Alex had co-founded Musical.ly, which trod similar ground as TikTok does today with the short-burst videos that users create in which they do everything from lip-syncing songs to dancing, showing off talent, and just generally being funny. Alex was on a train at one point back then, riding from San Francisco to Mountain View, California, and as he explains it to The New York Times, he started noticing the teenagers around him on the train. They were listening to music with their phones, but also taking selfies and passing their phones around among them.
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TikTok’s owner may launch a cheaper rival to Spotify and Apple Music next month originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 18 Nov 2019 at 14:38:41 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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