TikTok and the National Cyber Alliance in new partnership

TikTok, the social media giant is looking to help inspire the next generation of cybersecurity experts via a new partnership with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) which will see it support the launch of a new Cybersecurity Education and Career Resource Library, providing direct guidance and resources in this growing and crucial field of interest.

TikTok said:" As the new school year and course selections commence, the global workforce is also seeing a record level of professionals looking to make a career change. We believe TikTok provides a platform to spark curiosity in fast-growing sectors like security, privacy, and safety. We're excited to build the cyber-learning community on TikTok, working to create a larger, more diverse and inclusive field."

Tiktok which is hugely popular with young people may not be the first platform that springs to mind when it comes to professional education, but it has seen rising interest in career advice and guidance content, with career-related clips sparking a whole new use case for the app.

The new initiative will form part of TikTok's broader effort to promote cybersecurity education and will additionally provide more pathways into career development direct from the app.

Last month, TikTok added a new 'Resumes' option in the US, which enables users to post personal job pitches via TikTok clips. The new option came in response to the rising interest in career-aligned TikTok content, with the hashtag #careeradvice already generating more than 80 million video views per day in the app.

The Washington Post reported: "TikTok, widely known for 15-second videos of cranberry juice-drinking skateboarders and group dance challenges, is fast emerging as a force in the job search ecosystem at a time when unemployment remains high, a new generation looks for their first jobs and pandemic isolation leads to hours of mindless scrolling."

Given this, TikTok may well be in a unique position to help guide the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. TikTok also sponsored the inaugural US Cyber Games, an event to help identify potential cybersecurity talent, earlier in the year.

In addition to supporting the new education platform, TikTok is also hosting a Career Fair next month, which will focus on coaching and recruiting security and privacy leaders. The event will be broadcast via both TikTok and LinkedIn's live-streaming options, which is an interesting merging of the two platforms.

Clearly, TikTok is the language that young people are increasingly familiar with and as it changes consumption habits, and reforms the ways in which people engage with media, it's feasible that it could become a more viable professional option, in many respects. 

That will also expand the utility, and usage of the app, which could make it an even bigger challenger to Facebook, and other platforms in the social media space.