From web gimmick to internet craze, what’s the secret behind the growing popularity amongst the teenage demographic of the lip-syncing app and social network Musical.ly?
With nearly 100 million users, Musical.ly allows users to lip-sync to their favourite pop songs, apply music video style effects and share the results. The app has had many comparisons with social media service Instagram with its editing suite of image filters enabling users to create and share content where followers can then contribute with views, likes and comments. The users that receive the most attention through likes over a given 24-hour period rise to the top of the Musical.ly leaderboard and are dubbed as ‘musers‘
With approximately half of American teens and preteens using Musical.ly, the app has become a starting point for many teen viral stars with fifteen year old Baby Ariel who currently has at least 13 million followers and was signed to CAA (Creatives Artists Agency).
Despite its growing popularity, the app suffers from an underlying issue of being accessible to young users with exposure to cyber-bullying and violent content. The app does not collect or show the age of its users, leaving it open to children as young as first grade to be exposed to the online world. Recently, headlines were made of a young Australian schoolgirl uploading self-harm content to the app.
President of Musical.ly Alex Hofmann said to The New York Times that the company tries to be mindful of its popularity with younger users.
“One of the differences to other apps is that we don’t only talk to the musers; we talk to the parents.”
Despite the issues regarding children and cyber safety, Musical.ly continues to expand as a social network, even releasing sister streaming video app Live.ly. Whatever happens next, teens are jumping at the chance to become the next breakout star.
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