Three Years at TikTok

My TikTok Profile 

Hi everyone, I'm Ed! I was one of the early employees at TikTok who helped launch the app in Europe as part of a small team. As I celebrate my third work anniversary at TikTok this month, I want to look back on my experiences so far and share my thoughts. I've been lucky to see TikTok grow and succeed as both an organization and a platform, and I've had the chance to work with some incredible people along the way. For those interested in learning more about TikTok and our (relatively brief) history, I hope this article will give you some valuable insight! 

Year One: The Basement Days

My first year at TikTok was hectic. I joined a team of three in the basement of a central London WeWork, our only office in Europe at the time. A few days after I started, we began plans to rebrand the app from musical.ly to TikTok, and I was assigned as the local lead for the launch -- a huge responsibility for someone just starting a new job, but not unusual at TikTok! In true start-up fashion, we moved at 100 miles per hour to get everything ready, and a few weeks later I took to a small stage in an edgy London hotel to announce that TikTok was LIVE. This was where it all began. 

The majority of our work in the basement that first year was on diversifying the content ecosystem. TikTok was really popular with teenage users, but in order for us to grow as a platform, we needed to host and serve more diverse content across a wider range of categories -- like sports, cooking, travel, fashion, comedy, and beauty. We set out trying to convince any and every talented hobbyist to start making videos on TikTok. 

Progress was slow at first, but through some smart growth hacking and lots of hard work, we began to see the content on TikTok diversify and become more popular. We then implemented an innovative community management strategy and hired great community managers to drive it. At this point, our headcount was doubling month after month, so we changed offices several times. 

A highlight of my first year was when our global leadership team came to London to share their ambitious goals and vision for TikTok. At short notice, I was asked to host an all-hands meeting in front of our EU team (around 100 employees at that point), and had the honor of interviewing our global leadership team. I had worked informally as an event host and wedding MC, so though this was a little outside my comfort zone, I was delighted to be able put those skills to use. 

Year Two: Jumping In

In my second year, my role pivoted to focus on high-value media organizations. We were excited about their potential to create and share best-in-class content that would resonate well with an older demographic. We saw early success onboarding ambitious and fast-growing social publishers like LADbible Group, Media Chain, and other major meme publishers who quickly drew tens of millions of views a week and helped solidify TikTok as THE place for viral videos. 

It was also around this time that credible sporting brands began to join the platform, and (as a huge sports fan) I was delighted. From Premier League football clubs to major sporting events like Wimbledon, everyone embraced us as a new platform and reaped the rewards for producing great content. I had previously worked for a summer at Wimbledon back in 2012, so it was a personal highlight when I formed a partnership with them and brought top TikTok creators to enjoy the 2019 tournament. 

By this point, TikTok had made incredible progress in its first 12 months and was becoming a credible challenger to the other major social platforms. We started to see interest from global celebrities and brands, and my For You Page was becoming increasingly diverse and engaging. More and more friends within my immediate circle were sending me links to TikTok videos that they had discovered, which gave me confidence that we were making progress in reaching a wider audience. It felt like we were approaching a tipping point. 

Year Three: Happy at Home

Shortly before my third year at TikTok, the global pandemic hit. Although the various lockdowns around the world may have helped increase our profile and user base, we were only in a position to become an "overnight success" because of all the effort we had poured into our platform in the years prior. We had done everything we could to ensure we were in a place for anyone who was #boredinthehouse to find us! 

As we adapted to the new normal and the demands of our growing user base, we saw an opportunity to build on the value we could bring to the TikTok community. My own work shifted to focus on onboarding and supporting major UK entertainment media, like the BBC (@bbc, @bbcsport and @bbcradio1) and ITV (@imacelebrity and @itvcorrie). We also introduced more educational content by launching the Creative Learning Fund and welcoming high-profile individuals and organizations in education (like Cambridge University) to the platform. With recipes, life hacks, Excel shortcuts, and many more tips gaining traction on the app, it's clear now that learning really does start on TikTok! 

Year Four: New Frontiers

Now heading into my fourth year at TikTok, I’m as excited as I was when I first joined, and I'm still doing work that is changing the industry. Specifically, I’m now working on a new offering, which is at the forefront of the growing Internet trend of commerce. I'm thrilled to be building a new ecosystem that will enable creators, brands, and retailers to list and sell products directly through TikTok. 

As our ecosystem grows, TikTok will provide a more viable career path for creators and a new source of revenue for businesses. Like most projects at TikTok, my time on this new team is reminiscent of the "roll your sleeves up" start-up culture I experienced (and fell in love with) when I first joined three years ago. Things move fast and impact is huge! 

Final Thoughts

As I celebrate my third work anniversary, I've been reflecting on what has surprised me the most about life at TikTok. The amazing people? The culture? The global scope of our work? Our incredible growth over the past year? They're all strong contenders, but I would have to say it's the speed at which we move and innovate. We often hear the idea among colleagues that one year at TikTok is like working 10 years somewhere else, because of all the progress and achievements we see in a short period of time. If that's the case, then what a great 30 years it has been, and I can't wait for the next 10!