by As TikTok battles a new law requiring divestment from its Chinese owner, smaller rivals may be reaping some of the benefits.
One is Clapper, the short video app that launched in 2020, where downloads quadrupled as Congress moved to pass the TikTok legislation and four weeks later, according to its founder, Edison Chen. Clapper averages around 200,000 new weekly downloads.
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President Joe Biden signed national security legislation on April 24 that requires TikTok’s owner, China’s ByteDance, to divest its social media platform within a year or face a ban on app stores in the United States. Meanwhile, TikTok has filed suit to stop the new law, citing the First Amendment.
Clapper averages about 300,000 daily active users and 2 million monthly active users, a fraction of the audience for TikTok.
While Chen doesn’t see Clapper as a direct competitor, the company has created a playground for users and creators amid the short video frenzy. Among other things, the company noted that its main office is just outside of Dallas, and that they “store our user data in a Cloud system based in the United States.” User data “remains in our system, locked away: we do not sell or share our creation information or share it with a third party.” Lawmakers cited fears that the Beijing government could gain access to user data as a rationale for passing TikTok’s restrictions.
Clapper also differentiates itself by appealing to an older audience – Gen X and Gen Y. The app, which has no ads, requires users to be 17 and older. It also includes live streams and chat, among other features.
“TikTok is targeting more of the younger generation, especially under 25. I saw the possibility of a more mature user base”, said Chen. “They also want to enjoy the short video format, but the majority of social media platforms are targeting younger generations.” The idea, he said, was to give a space “to people where their voice is heard and respected and where they are protected.”
The community guidelines include a range of prohibited conduct, with the notice, “there’s a reason this is a mature app. Don’t act like a child.” That includes harassment, bullying, attacks based on identity, racism, impersonation, or threats, advocacy or provocation of violence. Clapper is building its content moderation, including from AI.
Clapper also emphasizes communities of interest, rather than what they like or expect, in areas from BikeLife to GhostHunting. One of the functions allows users to filter posts by location, not just the people they follow.
“Compared to TikTok, we’re still at a very early stage, because they have a billion monthly active users,” Chen said. “So we’re more like a virtual community that’s targeting more mature Gen X and Y.”
The challenge for Clapper and other short video apps could be large-scale, as it was for Twitter competitors like Mastodon and Blue Sky.
Caitlin Chin-Rothman, another fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she believes if TikTok were forced out of the US market or sold to another owner, competitors could take advantage of “whether it’s Meta or Snapchat or smaller ones. like Clapper.”
That said, “none of these other apps are a substitute for TikTok,” noting that it’s harder for bigger influencers to switch to other apps if they’ve built a large TikTok user base. “It’s really hard to migrate,” she said.
Perhaps that’s why Clapper sought out what he sees as an underserved older audience.
Clapper features creators with a monetization structure through membership programs and tips, rather than reach and virality.
Chen, a Chinese immigrant who moved to the United States in 2011 and completed his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, said he raised startup funds from several angel investors in Dallas, then raised $3 million from venture capital after the address. . He said they have since reached a level playing field.
Clapper takes a portion of transactions when creators sell items during live streams, as well as a portion of subscriptions. Clapper collects 5% of live stream merchandise sales and 15% from subscriptions and tips.
Chen said it is much more profitable for creators than on TikTok and other apps, noting that creators are able to make money faster through the shared revenue model, “unlike other platforms that only allow them to make money based on performance and visual counting. .” TikTok creators must collect 10,000 followers before they can start benefiting from a fund that pays them for videos, based on the number of views.
“We’re more believers in a creative economy, which relies more on creators themselves to monetize their content and create valuable content, and then we encourage them to continue doing that, and they’ll get a very good of the income too,” Chen said. “Currently, it’s very difficult for them to monetize their content, and some creators may have more than 1 million followers and many views. [of their videos] but they can’t make money.”
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