I grew up in both the Vine and Tiktok era. I love the icon “free shavacado”, “look at all those chickens” and all the Vine quotes — but let’s be honest, TikTok is the elite platform.

According to mediakick.com, Vine had a total of about 200 million users and – according to CNBC – TikTok has a total of one billion users a month.

TikTok originally gave the user 15 seconds to record videos, while Vine only gave the user six seconds. Both apps did this because they wanted to apply to the attention span of each user.

People use TikTok for more than just funny videos. Now, a lot of people use the platform from a storytelling, news, singing and business standpoint.

Lacey Brown is one of my favorite examples of having a news platform on TikTok. Brown often makes videos that report recaps and fun features on NFL players. She is sitting at about 230k followers and has over 16 million likes. 

Liv Pearsall uses the app — sitting at 3.1 million followers and 127.8 million likes – and uses the platform to make funny videos and stories.

TikTok has noticed this and now allows people to create videos up to three minutes long.

Producing content like that on Vine was extremely difficult. This was shown in the final season of America’s Next Top Model. The models were required to make a video explaining the importance of STEM. Overall, the majority of the groups failed because of the time limits.

Not only is producing content easier on TikTok, but users have an opportunity to be paid at a higher rate.

If a user has over 1,000 followers, they can go live and receive gifts from other users on TikTok. People can also make money by making advertisements, creating sponsored content and joining the creator fund. 

With more users than Vine — even though getting viral is extremely difficult — getting viral is slightly easier. Having a larger audience allows for more people to see posted content. When you go viral, you can begin to use these resources to further your career. 

Addison Rae – with 86.3 million followers — has starred in Netflix films. Bella Poarch – with 87.7 million followers – used the platform to produce songs. Poarch’s first released song was listened to ten million times in 24 hours and has over 160 million views on YouTube. 

Vine will always have a special place in my heart, but from a business and communications standpoint, TikTok is the elite app.