Emma Newman staff writer

For the last two years, TikTok has emerged as the world’s newest social media platform. As the use of the app has grown, TikTok users’ popularity has also risen, some of whom attend Beverly. 
Some of the most recognized TikTok users from the school are junior Alana Morgan with 55.2 thousand followers, junior Nil Sani with 28.6 thousand followers,  junior Ryan Schulman with 22 thousand followers and sophomore Daniel Burns, who has more than 500 thousand views on his most popular post.
Morgan, who also has an Instagram following of 10 thousand, began her success on Musical.ly, which was the name of TikTok before it was rebranded. 
“I started off with Musical.ly, and that’s what I was using a few years back,” Morgan said. “That’s what everyone was using at that time, and I took a break from it for a while because it just died down and no one really used it.” 
However, her path changed once TikTok emerged. As a result, she decided to change her style of videos to fit TikTok’s format. 
“Once I heard that Musical.ly was rebranded into this new app called TikTok…it made me want to build up my own account again and change my videos that I used to create from lip syncing videos from Musical.ly to [content] more diverse in comedy,” Morgan said. 
However, her account did not truly go viral until she released a video with the caption  “when I record my voice” and “what it actually sounds like.” That video, which is the video Morgan is the proudest of, reached 3 million views. 
She feels that her viral status is accredited to the unique aspects of her most viewed video. 
“My content has a lot of original ideas,” Morgan said. “This
I feel went more viral than the rest of them because I feel like a lot of people, especially non-singers, can relate.”
Schulman, who has two videos with more than a million views, originally joined TikTok for fun. 
“All my friends had it and I figured it would be fun to have,” Schulman said via text. 
After that, his account grew and he created many videos. The one that he is the proudest of features a motorcycle and has 314.5 thousand views. 
Sani also began her TikTok account just to enjoy herself.
“I was bored and the dances seemed fun, to be honest,” Sani said via email. “It was a good distraction.”
However, her account blew up, with all of her 15 videos reaching more than 10 thousand views. She is proudest of her most recent video, which is set with the premise of a photoshoot. 
“I just like the vibe of the video and I’m glad I was able to capture it,” Sani said. 
She credits her success to the advertisement of her account on her other platforms. Sani has a large Instagram and YouTube following, with almost 400 thousand YouTube subscribers and 267 thousand Instagram followers. 
Sophomore Daniel Burns, who has 515 followers and two viral videos, joined TikTok because of his friends. 
“There were short funny videos that I wanted to watch and be a part of,” Burns said via text. 
He thinks that his two videos, one which made fun of a YouTube video and one about curved exams, went viral because they were original. 
“No one had that idea before, but it inspired many people to make videos like mine,” Burns said. 
As a user of the app, he feels as if TikTok has affected him and others around him. 
“I feel like it hasn’t just influenced my life, but also everyone’s who uses social media,” Burns said. “It’s the next big app to Instagram and Snapchat.” 
Sani also has experienced changes due to a large amount of time she spends on the app, which has affected her daily conversations. 
“When I talk to people I think of videos I’ve seen that can relate to the situation,” Sani said. “I’m also guilty of using the TikTok lingo.”
Schulman sees benefits to his life from his use of the app. 
“It gives me a place to be myself and have fans to talk to,” Schulman said. 
Morgan also has seen TikTok positively affect her life. This is because her use of the app as a way of expression has allowed her to “break out of [her] shell.” 
“TikTok is a great way for you to be able to express who you are, no matter what types of videos that you create,” Morgan said. “It has influenced my life to just open up more, to relate to others more, and to be the best version of myself.”