Season 2, Episode 1, An Epiphany on a Train

TikTok is powered by sophisticated artificial intelligence that predicts what users want to see next. This technology was developed at ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company and the most valuable startup in the world. In this episode, reporter Shelly Banjo explains how ByteDa ...  Show more

TikTok has redefined American pop culture and upended the music industry, advertising and the economics of fame. In this episode, reporter Shelly Banjo examines TikTok’s hands-on approach with its creators and artists, minting a new generation of social media stars and positionin ...  Show more

We take Acquired to the Old Town Road to cover the amazing story behind the biggest global sensation of 2019 — and the highest valued private startup in the world — TikTok. How did a mid-30 year old UX architect at enterprise software giant SAP wind up creating Gen Z’s favorite s ...  Show more

How did an unassuming software engineer become one of the richest people on the planet? This is the story of how Zhang Yiming transformed social media by creating TikTok, and how the Chinese tech company ByteDance became a multi-billion dollar business. BBC business editor Simon ...  Show more

What does the success of TikTok's algorithmically-driven product tell us about the future of creators and the creator economy, product design, and innovation within video?

In this cross-over archive episode from our tech news podcast, 16 Minutes on the News, we go deep i ...

It’s July 2010, and Kevin Systrom is on holiday in Mexico when he has an idea for how to save his failing app: offer filters to make users’ photos more appealing. He gets back to San Francisco and teams up with his friend Mike Krieger. Together they launch Instagram, a platform t ...  Show more