Does being 'TikTok famous' actually make you money?

When I meet up with Jake Sweet (aka Surfaceldn on TikTok), he's buzzing.

He's about to be flown out to the MTV Video Music Awards in Spain as a special guest. Dinner will be laid on, he explains, and there will be aftershow parties where he will rub shoulders with music's biggest stars - but best of all, says the 21-year-old, he will hang out with other social media influencers he admires.

He got his invite because he has just over three million followers on the TikTok video sharing app (more than twice as many as pop star Dua Lipa). His presence at the event will boost its profile, as well as his own.

But once the party's over, it will be back to Earth with a bump. He will return to lectures at the University of Nottingham.

When not working towards his degree, Jake makes fun, craft-based videos on TikTok, with a sideline in pranking. For instance, he once surprised his brother by filling his duvet with popcorn.

But he's best known for customising trainers, and for his tricks with orbeez, colourful pellets that change size in water.

He started on TikTok just to have fun with his friends back in November 2018. His videos achieved tens of thousands of views almost immediately, so he threw himself into it.

Felicity lives in Edinburgh and works in marketing - or at least she used to.

She discovered TikTok last year and decided to make some fun videos. Things really took off when she included her two sons.

Over summer she did a "prank-a-day" marathon called "Taking revenge on my kids". This included pretending to trap her hand in a car door and tricking them into smearing baked beans on their faces.

Half-way through the series, her videos were consistently getting two million views, and one achieved 13 million.

She now has 1.8 million followers and TikToking has practically become her full-time job.

TikTok is a Chinese-owned social media app that allows you to share short videos. The international version of the app has more than one billion users. In 2019 it was the second-most downloaded app globally, after WhatsApp.

The platform is owned by ByteDance and morphed out of the lip-syncing app Musical.ly. Music remains an important part of the experience - posts can be set to snippets of the latest commercial releases.

What sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms is the way it finds videos for you. As well as seeing videos posted by friends, users are recommended videos by the company's software algorithm.

Unlike Facebook, which recommends content based on your friends' activity, TikTok delves deep into users' behaviour on the app to figure out their tastes. Make the right kind of content and you can potentially reach millions of eyeballs.

And this explains a big reason for TikTok's appeal. In theory anyone can become "TikTok famous" - you don't have be a reality-TV star, or celebrity sportsperson to make viral videos.

Add to the equation the app's hashtag challenges and the experience becomes like a talent show.

On established platforms like YouTube and Instagram, influencers have made millions through advertising revenue and paid promotions. So can everyday influencers who crack the TikTok code make money, considering its vast reach?