TikTok Turns Five
A fatherly guide to the new internet
TikTok was launched in the US in late 2018, the same month my first child was born. Needless to say, in the years since I’ve had my hands full and have actively fended off engaging with the app in fear of getting sucked into its infamous algorithm. My son has now turned five, is attending junior infants (aka Kindergarten) and has cultivated a deep fascination with aquariums and sea creatures. Meanwhile, TikTok has amassed 1.1 billion active users who spend an average of 58 mins a day on the platform — that’s 20.8 entire days per year (if you account for sleep).
I figure now is finally the time to wrap my sleep-deprived head around TikTok and its impact on the past five years. I set out to answer what it means for the future, for my son and society — and do whatever dance routine that involves. Below I look to document the rough history of social media, understand TikTok’s tech underpinnings, and map out some of the broader implications it carries within culture. Join me in this week’s edition of #DadTok.
The Rise and Fall of ‘Social’ Media
At its core, TikTok appears to be a simple short-form video-sharing app, one of the many social media channels at our disposal to connect with family and friends. But in reality, it’s much more pivotal. The TikTok phenomenon has signaled the next wave of how we experience the internet.
If we go back to the heyday of Facebook (think 2012 when it hit 1 Billion users) and Instagram was still about the photo filters, social media content would land in our feed from those we chose to “friend.” For the most part, these were reciprocal friendships, typically friends and classmates, later expanding to include family, friends of friends, acquaintances and so on. Retrospectively, it’s easy to see how we outgrow those connections and why, eventually, our feed no longer felt entertaining or relevant.
We soon found ourselves “doom scrolling” and looking for compelling content that could keep up with our ever-changing interests and attention spans. I remember when we would post on Instagram and in the copy below awkwardly sneak in a ream of hashtags. This still continues in a way, but it began as a cry for the attention of other interest groups beyond our social circle. At the time, popular social apps had an algorithm that worked off a “social graph” model with the purpose of connecting your social circle and then using this understanding to sell ads. The flaw being that for the most part we do not have the same interests as our mom’s best friend Deb or even your own roommate. As a result, social media platforms that were originally built to foster relationships were transformed into a means to explore our interests. The catch? The burden to curate your own feed fell directly on the user.
Then, with the evolution of LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, we saw the ability of the ‘one-way follow’ to trim the fat of our feeds and surface only the posts that truly interested us. This naturally segued into influencer culture; followed swiftly by the boom of unapologetic, parasocial relationships. This one-way, performer v audience relationship, typically reserved for Hollywood, was bestowed on z-list celebrities talking into their ring lights.
The Time Has Come, TikTok Arrives
Meanwhile in China, ByteDance launched an app called Douyin (which the brand name translates to “shaking music”) in 2016, garnering 100 million users within a year. Building on this success, they expanded globally as TikTok, acquiring Musical.ly (a lip sync app) into its platform. From the very start, TikTok had music woven into its DNA. If you look at the logo, the simple “d” shape we now see everywhere, was designed to resembled a musical note.
As a creator platform it wasn’t radically different from its competitors, letting users make 5 to 60 seconds videos where you could add effects like filters and stickers, background music, enact memes and create split-screen duet/responses. However, the added openness and ease of the app bred collaboration, creativity and remixing, slowly leading to strong popularity amongst GenZ.
Media For Me
TikTok’s real innovation goes far beyond the music and cultural connections, it rewrote the scrolling experience with an algorithm that masterfully curated interest-based entertainment.
Instead of being populated entirely with videos from the people you follow, TikTok’s algorithm calculates what you’ll enjoy — mostly from people you don’t know. This is based on your preferences and content that you interact with, capturing your likes and dislikes and associating you with other user groups who share those interests. TikTok still has a social aspect in its feed to connect with friends, but it’s not why people use the platform. It’s the For You Page (FYP) that sent this gangbusters. Now all users had to do was watch a few videos without adding a single follower, and the TikTok algorithm would quickly curate a handful of personalized video recommendations neatly housed on a landing page. As the internet and social media become bloated with information and overwhelmed people with choice, then comes TikTok with instant, tailored content, with minimal effort, delivered straight into your veins. This algorithm seems to have tapped into our human nature, capitalising on our tendencies around boredom. This marks a significant change in entertainment, because within just two decades, it demonstrates that we’ve moved from everyone watching the same TV shows to each individual having their own personalized channel.
The way this algorithm currently works, follower counts and whether a creator has a history of high-performing videos don’t matter. A successful video that shows up on your feed is based on the following:
- Users Activity (Likes, Comments, Shares, Completions/Re-watches, and Follows)
- Subject Matter (Caption Keywords, Sounds, Hashtags, Effects and Content (transcripts)
- Location and Language (Posting Location, Language Preferences, Type of Device)
- Audio (Staying true its its musical roots, videos with trending sounds are promoted)
- Feedback (Won’t serve types of videos when marked as “Not Interested,” hidden or skipped)
Currently as we scroll through “social” apps this idea of “For You” is becoming commonplace. Over the past few years competitors like Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram have tried to replicate this approach so much so they are starting to all feel indecipherably - like TikTok, but worse. TikTok was designed as a place to view snappy, entertaining videos made by people you don’t know, and a place where creators make content knowing this about their audience. We now see these competing social apps, initially designed to show content from your friends, retrofitting their platforms in a last ditch effort to hold on to their users.
The New Search
TikTok is now also a search platform and an efficient place to learn and get advice directly from real people. In the past, search relied on long-form keyword-heavy content in order to improve rankings; but in reality, users just want the answer quickly and clearly. People are getting tired of a list of links, clickbait headlines and ad scrolling. “40% of 18–24 year olds, when looking for a place to go or eat, turn to TikTok over Google” and that number is growing even higher when it comes to everything from literature to fashion recommendations.
Like many features of TikTok, search was not part of the original design or purpose of the platform but grew organically. Although people still trust Google far more than TikTok, people do trust recommendations and reviews way more because it comes directly from creators. With a visually engaging and fast pace search and location-based features you can now find a restaurant in a new city by reviewing 4–5 different perspectives and get answers in 30 seconds with opinions from real people. TikTok is still not the place to check the weather but a super efficient and effective “how-to” and “where to go” recommendation platform.
On The Ban Wagon
With all of its success its also comes with plenty of concern. A US congressmen was heard on Meet The Press calling TikTok, “digital fentanyl.” In the U.S. and Europe, TikTok has been pushed to divest from its Chinese parent company and is dealing with a slew of bans and almost-bans because people are worried about national security. The fear is that the FYP algorithm (although it has gained some transparency) is still opaque and could be used to manipulate users’ behavior and potentially transmit political messaging, possibly interfering in elections.
“TikTok is a lot like the young people on its platform — difficult to control.”
However, after much scrutiny, TikTok is still available in the US and Europe, and although there are legal hurdles ahead, things are looking up. After all, TikTok is now an important part of the cultural fabric for many people, and in an election year in the US, I don’t imagine either political party would start banning something 150 million mostly-young American’s deeply love. But as companies like Meta and Google have had to do in the past, this next election cycle will present TikTok with some tough decisions and public scrutiny - a lot could change.
A Five-Year-Old’s Future
While my son hasn’t ventured into TikTok territory, I’m catching a glimpse of what’s to come as he explores YouTube Kids. He’s become obsessed with a content creator that builds custom-themed aquariums and teaches viewers about creating healthy and creative environments for fish, animals and plants. He’s already experiencing a world that’s as unique as his interests, allowing him to grow and learn. I catch him talking about things like ‘biodiversity’ and about how ‘there’s plastic found in the Mariana Trench.’ So the question is: is he simply brilliant for his age (obviously) or just a product of the new media environment, motivating him to learn in a never-ending pursuit of his niche interests?
What is clear is that TikTok and interest-based entertainment will continue to shape my son and society. This high level of personalization is becoming the new normal and people now expect this not just from the media they consume but also their favorite brands and services. Smaller groups will continue to have a bigger say as we see further segmentation and small communities grow in importance.
I wouldn’t be able to finish this without some fatherly advice. We are now challenged with finding the delicate balance of embracing the benefits of personalization without living in an echo chamber. The burden will now be on us to cultivate a broader understanding of the world. We’ll have to learn to appreciate and enjoy our personal fish tank, but still actively seek out an ocean of perspectives beyond just the algorithm.
