Got a moment – or, perhaps, 15 seconds? In the age of fragmented time, short, funny videos can perfectly fill in the gaps when people have nothing better to do between two events. Enter Douyin, which is a massive hit in China right now; its daily plays have already exceeded one billion. The Vine-like app allows users to produce creative short videos that combine music with mouth shapes or body moves. They can dance, sing, cook or do whatever their hearts desire.

Launched in September 2016, Douyin aims to connect people who want to share their lives, make new friends or just watch funny short videos. Emanating from the same company that brought us Toutiao (aka Headlines), Douyin is owned by Zhang Yiming, one of China's top tech leaders; he chairs ByteDance. Similar to how Vine worked as a time-limited video platform, Douyin is a collection of brief 15-second music videos, mainly focused on young people, though it's certainly suitable for all ages.

On the platform, childish and eccentric behaviours are totally acceptable. In a high-pressure world, it's no surprise that Douyin has become so successful – all you need to do is pick up your phone and open the app to relieve some stress and have a laugh. Users can tweak the shooting speed and apply editing techniques to their videos; another interesting item is that the app has a dubbing recording system in which every user can compete with another by using the same song as a base for their video.

According to iResearch, a major Chinese researcher that provides the country's internet economic results, in 2017 the market size for short videos was 5.73 billion yuan ($890 million), while the whole market has the potential to reach 35.68 billion yuan ($5.57 billion) in three years. The app pushes related videos and products based on users' preferences and consequently, Douyin can be quite addictive – many people just want to enjoy a few minutes at first, but end up watching several hours' worth of videos.

Douyin's international version, called Tik Tok, is also popular overseas, especially in Japan, where it was in first place on the country's Apple Store free app list for both April and May. After launching in Japan in August 2017, the app now commands huge popularity among young Japanese. According to research by Nikkei, 24 of 100 teenage girls in the hip Shibuya, Harajuku and Ikebukuro districts have downloaded Tik Tok.

The app has also been used as a means of city promotion. On April 17, dozens of policemen from Xi'an filmed a 15-second video for the Traffic Police Division's official Douyin account, together with hundreds of brand-new police vehicles and drones. The question remains: Will Douyin have 15 minutes of fame, or 15 years? Well, we can at least be sure about 15 seconds.