I am not proud to admit that I was one of those people who refused to get a Tik Tok account when the app first began to get popular at the end of 2019. All of my friends were talking about the platform and sending me videos from it, but I refused to get involved. I couldn’t imagine what could be so amazing about another social media platform that to me seemed to just be a different version of Vine. I also didn’t want the pressure of having to post on another platform, because I already felt overwhelmed with the trials of having any social media presence. To me, the last thing that the world needed was another social media platform and I didn’t want to even consider that this could be different.
But I did end up downloading the app in January of 2021, and now, in a shocking turn of events, it has become my favorite form of social media. I love so many things about it. I feel like it allows me to be more creative in the content that I share because there are so many different tools for creating already within the app. I also think that, unlike whatever algorithm Instagram uses to make my feed, the Tik Tok “for you page” was really great at showing me content that I liked. The other thing that made me enjoy it was the fact that you didn’t have to be as curated about the posts you made on the app, the way that apps like Snapchat and Instagram always seemed to be focused on. However, this wasn’t the thing that really made me commit to making the app a mainstay in my recently used apps.
What struck me the most when I first began using the app, was the way that it allowed for small creators to share within their communities. From things like small businesses gaining a large audience for their merchandise to people being able to share personal things like recipes; small content creators were able to gain a large following for the things that they felt they could share with the world. So many small businesses have gotten a huge following on the app just from one of their videos going viral.
One great example of this is the t-shirt brand, “Nice Shirt. Thanks!” This brand has buyers send in a couple of words of what they might want on a t-shirt. Then, artists hired by the company create a design based on those words and the company mails the finished product to the customer. However, the client has no idea what it is going to look like when it comes and the artists can combine the words in whatever way they choose. This idea is practically made to go viral with customers making videos with their finished product, which are usually hilarious. As of July 23, 2021, the company’s Tik Tok account had 230,000 followers, and as of this week the number has grown to 266,500 followers.
All of this to say, Tik Tok allows unique opportunities for creators and viewers alike to interact and connect on the things that they care about. Whether this is a business or just someone looking to share a great hack, Tik Tok allows for an amazing level of content collaboration.
Now, one of my main roles here at The Mirror is to be in charge of our social media channels, and I think it would be hypocritical of us to print this article without having an account for the paper! So, go follow @fairfieldmirror on Tik Tok, and get ready to see some amazing new content on your feed!
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