Social media expert weighs in on possible TikTok ban
Concerns are growing after House lawmakers passed a bill that could force the sale of the app or lead to a nationwide ban of TikTok.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Concerns are growing after House lawmakers passed a bill that could force the sale of the app or lead to a nationwide ban of TikTok.
Some caution an outright ban could hurt small businesses on the app.
“Tiktok Shop is kind of like the modern day QVC, or shop NBC, where you can shop directly from what you're seeing on your social media, which is awesome,” said Giselle Ugarte, a social media expert.
“The thing that's most important to understand here is that platforms like TikTok, and now we've seen Instagram and even LinkedIn, and YouTube and Facebook adopt this similar strategy is that for the first time ever, your content is guaranteed to be put in front of people who don't follow you.”
Ugarte said the exposure on TikTok is massive for some businesses.
“Previously, to get your content in front of people who didn't follow you in a hyper-targeted way, you would have to pay a lot of money for that. And so what this allows us for small businesses to expose themselves and their services and their products without having to have a massive budget."
Some creators are encouraging their followers to call on Senate lawmakers to vote against the bill.
“Potentially losing the platform now is definitely the wakeup call of we need to start creating community in other places, too.”