• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, July 2, 2021

My daughter works for a nonprofit. She and her team this week created a three-minute long TikTok video as a team-building exercise. In fact, her entire organization at the location in which she works also did.

They created a contest using TikTok’s latest video format, with the ability to also post it on YouTube. They are not the only nonprofit and sole-proprietorship exploring this content option. 

TikTok on Thursday officially introduced the long-form videos, “paving the way for even richer storytelling and entertainment,” a TikTok spokesperson wrote in an email to Inside Performance.

In the coming weeks, TikTok will roll out the option to create videos of up to three minutes in length, giving the global community the flexibility to film, upload, and edit them.

The long-form video content provides a forum not only for individuals, but for nonprofits and smaller or sole proprietorships.

While my daughter made her first TikTok video this week, others have been doing this for a while, like sad_papi, a chef with 10 years of experience, who has found a way to demonstrate to his followers how to cook. This week he made Brazilian chicken croquettes.

The one long-form example video from TikTok that stood out for me as the U.S. heads into the long July 4, weekend came from Taylor Cassidy.

Cassidy introduced me to Mary Richards Bowser in her TikTok long-form video. Bowser was born into slavery and later became a missionary and a union spy in the Confederate White House during the U.S. Civil War. She also taught at freedmen’s schools. Bowser was "owned" by the Van Lew family of Richmond. Elizabeth Van Lew arranged for her to be educated in the North and provided her with freedom prior to the war. Van Lew ran a pro-Union intelligence ring in which Bowser played an important role. 

It's also important to note that Bowser, the slave-turned-spy, used at least two different married names and several pseudonyms throughout her life. Reports also suggest she made contradictory claims about herself, frequently embellishing, altering, or omitting biographical details to appeal to particular audiences.

The informants helped to secure food and medicine for Union soldiers imprisoned in Libby Prison, and even helped some to escape.

Have a safe and wonderful Independence Day weekend. See you back here on Tuesday.