ROANOKE, Va. – Millions of Americans use TikTok every day, but the potential ban has creators and small business owners wondering how they will adapt. In just a couple of taps, a TikTok can go viral, but what happens when the clock starts ticking toward a TikTok ban?
Caroline Dodson, owner of Rodeo Thrift in Roanoke, expressed her concerns: “I’m completely scared that TikTok leaving is going to change the rest of our lives, especially with our brand being so heavily based on TikTok and a lot of our consumers based on TikTok. That leaving just has me questioning what’s next.”
Dodson has about 12,000 followers on TikTok, but in June of last year, she got over 2 million views on a video that she says doubled her sales in-store. “Still to this day, I have people coming in maybe four or five times a week saying, ‘I’ve seen you on TikTok,’ ‘Hey, I saw you on TikTok,’ and that’s the greatest thing ever.”
When asked about the impact on her consumers, Dodson explained, “That is a huge thing because we post TikTok content which makes people see items we have. We have people come in straight from TikTok wanting to buy the item I put in the video. How am I going to show them that? I can’t post everything on Facebook, but me quickly walking through the back room on TikTok and they saw something sitting back there and they said, ‘Oh, I want to buy that.’ That’s different. I’m not gonna get that from Instagram.”
Regarding what’s at stake, Dodson said, “I guess just losing community. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’m not sure how much it’s gonna affect me. It’s hard to judge at this point, but losing the community of TikTok and the friends I have on there that are other business owners is what I’m gonna lose the most.”
Even as the country debates national security concerns tied to the app, creators like Caroline are left in limbo. With over 170 million U.S. users, they’re not alone. “It’s gonna suck. I don’t think people are gonna... I’ve never had somebody say, ‘I saw you on Instagram.’ So losing that is gonna be huge.”