Which came first, Google or TikTok?
Google came first, by 18 years. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.
Side by side
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1998 | 2016 |
| Date | 1998-09-04 | — |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park. | ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017. |
The date used here is the incorporation, 4 September 1998. Two others compete: the research project called BackRub began at Stanford in 1996, and the google.com domain was registered on 15 September 1997. Google itself has celebrated its birthday on four different September dates over the years, which is a fair indication that no single one is correct. It is younger than Amazon, eBay and Netflix.
TikTok
The app launched in China as Douyin in September 2016 and internationally as TikTok in 2017. What made it global was the 2018 acquisition and merger of Musical.ly, a lip-sync app that had launched in 2014 and already had a large Western user base — so part of TikTok is two years older than TikTok. Douyin and TikTok remain separate apps on separate infrastructure.
Common questions
- Which came first, Google or TikTok?
- Google, by 18 years — 1998 against 2016.
- When did Google start?
- 1998. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.
- When did TikTok start?
- 2016. ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017.
Related pages
- Apple or Google? Apple
- the internet (ARPANET) or Google? the internet (ARPANET)
- the internet (ARPANET) or TikTok? the internet (ARPANET)
- email or Google? email
- email or TikTok? email
- the Macintosh or TikTok? the Macintosh
- Python or TikTok? Python
- Java or TikTok? Java
- JavaScript or TikTok? JavaScript
- Amazon or Google? Amazon
- Amazon or TikTok? Amazon
- Netflix or TikTok? Netflix
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place