TikTok has taken the internet by storm overnight that it is considered absurd if a teen in today’s world is oblivious to “clout”, “Renegade” and “Fyp”, terms the app is synonymous with. The thing that makes this video-sharing social media app stand out amongst other moguls is that it’s a seemingly easy way for teens to get “clout”, or become viral.
Now, Tiktok’s main competitor in the world of social media is Facebook, the parent company of the internet giants, Instagram, Whatsapp and evidently, Facebook. Despite competition from these well-established apps, according to Business Insider, TikTok has hit 1.5 billion total downloads across the App Store and Google Play, as of March 2020 is it is ranked 2nd on the App Store’s social media download count.
The secret behind its success is a combination of a few things.
One of its most subtle features is the absence of time. If you haven’t noticed while scrolling down the wide variety of 60-second videos, the top bar on your screen, which usually displays the current time, vanishes, making you a slave of procrastination and idleness. You will start with just viewing maybe 2 or 3 funny internet culture references, however, slowly find yourself wanting to recreate these videos and attempt to get on to the “For You Page”; a vicious rabbit hole to get sucked into.
A series of videos pop up as a result of TikTok snooping on you, using its algorithms to craftily collect your personal preferences so that it can cater to your specific needs and wants. Not to forget, TikTok gives you an option to change these preferences by opting “not interested”. In this way, TikTok is able to ensure that its users are flooded with infinite content that suits their taste. Thus, the more you scroll, the more dopamine is released into your brain, causing you to scroll further in an attempt to reach a point of satiation. But in reality, you might never be satisfied.
On the flip side of the coin, creators – young inspired Gen Zers – feel pressured to get featured on the “fyp”, they feel compelled to make their content new, fun and fresh. If their videos don’t do well, they feel demoralized, much like an athlete losing a race.
Ever wondered why a bunch of random teens you passed by were doing unusual hand motions and catching Woahs? Well, what you have witnessed is the “ Renegade”, popularised by rising TikTok star, Charli D’Amelio, which is one of the many dances that have taken over pop culture through the app. According to Seventeen Magazine, Charli D’Amelio is one of the biggest stars dominating Tik Tok charts right now, in fact, she has been nicknamed the “Reigning Queen of TikTok”, with over 32 million followers. Her fame on TikTok has made its way to Youtube as well, with 1.4 million subscribers.
But how exactly did ordinary people like Charli D’Amelio, her sister Dixie, Addison Rae Easterling, and Chase Hudson get on the map? Two important factors that fueled their rise to fame are:
- Conventional standards of attractiveness – Boys and girls tend to flaunt their bodies and beauty in these short videos to attract a troop of loyal viewers. The empirical evidence behind this phenomenon is the inherent tendency to be drawn to beautiful things as a result of biochemical reactions.
- Internet Humour – TikTok has an intriguing number of amateur comics, people who neither treat themselves or their work with the seriousness that an actual comedian does. It is this light-hearted work of amateurs that are brought out through sketches such as points of view also known as “pov”. In these POVs, TikTokers enact a skit, pairing it with a caption suggesting the point of view the character adopted by the artist, giving these short videos a comical twist.
Although seemingly complex, with many different purposes, at the end of the day TikTok boils down to an outlet for teenagers who seek validation, be it by appearing on the fyp or by doing TikTok dances, teenagers just like you and I (I’m in the ghetto ratatat, sorry about that). One thing that we share in common is that we initially downloaded TikTok as a joke, to see what the hype was about, to keep up with the trends but most importantly to make fun of our friends. However, now we can’t seem to get enough of it, almost as though its an addictive drug. In the beginning, we thought to ourselves,” just two minutes is fine”, but now we need more doses at regular intervals. Although it shares this aspect of addictiveness with drugs like heroin, it lacks its lethal side effects. In conclusion, parents don’t have to worry THAT much about our new found addiction, it’s not like we spend the whole night making TikToks 😉
By: Kritika Balhotra (9 IGCSE C) & Jia Dsouza (9 IGCSE D)
The Casual Observer 