New York (AFP)

US TikTok users reacted with phlegm on Friday to the upcoming ban on downloading the social network's application, while preparing for their possible exodus to other skies.

"Oh my God! Ok! This is it! Everyone stay calm!"

For his video, TikToker Nick Foster (577,000 subscribers) used the voice of actor Steve Carell panicked by a fire alarm in the series "The Office".

While the young users of the platform, who form its hard core, continued to jiggle without paying much attention to the Trump administration's announcement, the older ones reacted.

"We had a lot of fun, TikTok," posted The Buyin King, a 22-year-old stock marketer with 437,000 subscribers.

"Thanks for the good times."

Some did pedagogy, explaining that for those who already had the application, little or nothing would change on Sunday and until November 12, the deadline set by the Trump administration.

"It's posture," said Jeff Couret, consultant (376,000 subscribers).

"For Trump, it's a way to be taken seriously without hurting them too much."

However, most of those who have built a base of "followers" on TikTok have already packed their bags, just in case.

For those who derive income from their presence on social networks, the financial stakes of an outright disappearance of the application are real.

The star Addison Rae (60.9 million subscribers) earned $ 5 million between June 2019 and June 2020, according to Forbes magazine, the top in the matter.

For weeks, everyone has been calling back their Instagram details or the name of their YouTube channel from TikTok, to prepare their herds for transhumance.

- Competitors in ambush -

The absolute reference of TikTokers, Charli D'Amelio (87.5 million subscribers at 16) even announced on Tuesday a non-exclusive partnership with the Triller platform, a similar application, where it already has 1.1 million 'subscribers.

Very often unknown to over 20s but all with more than 10 million subscribers on TikTok, Bryce Hall, Nessa Barrett or Chase Hudson have also opened a Triller account.

A sign of the times, Donald Trump himself, who had never set foot on TikTok, also made his debut on Triller, where he already has nearly a million subscribers.

Apart from a few arm movements on Village People, no music and dance video, king size of TikTok, for the head of state, but attacks targeting his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

In August, Triller put forward the figure of 250 million downloads since its creation, disputed by the firm Apptopia, which estimated the total at 52 million.

The application is not the only one to position itself to take advantage of the setbacks of the giant TikTok, its two billion downloads worldwide and its 100 million users in the United States.

Are in ambush Byte, launched in January, but also Likee, credited with 7.2 million downloads in the United States between February and August by Apptopia, and Dubsmash.

Without counting Instagram and even YouTube, which deploy their tentacles with respectively Reels and YouTube Shorts, launched opportunely these days in test version.

The winner "will be the one that loyal TikTok users perceive as the coolest destination, the place to be," anticipates James Mourey, professor of marketing at DePaul University.

In its day, TikTok itself benefited from the disappearance, in January 2017, of Vine, which at its peak had 200 million active users.

In the current context, "young start-ups like Byte could have the advantage, because we know that, in technology, established brands tend to lose their cool side", explains James Mourey, who takes the example. the migration of young Internet users from Facebook to Instagram.

But even reduced, and on borrowed time, TikTok is not yet dead, he warns.

Much can still happen by November 12, "and remember that TikTok is not banned anywhere other than the United States. As long as they remain globally dominant, they will continue to innovate and maintain a large user base ".

© 2020 AFP