A journalist finding a place on Tik Tok
Tik Tok is an entertainment social media platform in which users can show off their dance routines, sing, create a comedy, or participate in trending challenges in a 15s video.
This platform has become a hit mostly amongst youngsters, with 60% of Tik Tokers being Gen Z. Despite various issues surrounding Tik Tok, such as user safety, 80 million new users joined the platform in May this year; that is more than the total UK population!
The attractiveness of Tik Tok has also brought journalists from all over the world on board who have shared their stories on the platform. NBC News has shown a story on the youngest astronaut heading to space.
BBC Radio 1 has played concert snippets, and users can watch BuzzFeed UK’s journalists satirically commenting on British tabloids.
A running list of publishers and journalists on Tik Tok keeps track of new media accounts.
But as Tik Tok is still a “newbie” compared to its veteran social media siblings such as Twitter or Facebook, do media outlets know how to use the platform effectively?
As a Tik Toker (a person who creates Tik Tok videos) and a journalist, I am going on an uncharted expedition to find ways in which journalists can use the platform.
But will the long and fruitful adventure of digging into research papers, following the steps of other Tik Tok adventurers such as Max Foster, making a couple of Tik Toks along the way, and listening to natives in social media journalism result in some expedition findings?
Hopefully, the end of my journey will lead me to a destination called “Tik Tok — A Guide for Journalists”, in which I learn about stories, language, approach and Tik Tok journalism.
So let the journey begin….
First stop: Identifying Tik Tok’s charm
At first, before starting our Tik Tok journey, it is worth asking what attracts people to this new platform.
Is it because of its short-lasting videos, which can tell you a story in more than 15s but less than a minute? Or maybe that you can lip-sync to a song that everyone knows of, or is it because of its content virality? Content variation such as funny clips of cute animals or people’s life stories about fighting cancer or teaching how to cook?
It could be all of the above as well as the eye-catching, flashy, funny and creative videos.
A study on Tik Tok’s charm and user experience explains that it is due to three things.
Firstly, users are attracted to the platform because they can acquire knowledge, broaden their vision, watch funny stories and listen to Tik Tok’s song dubbing.
Secondly, they can interact with the platform by sharing, commenting or recreating videos. Moreover, users have said that Tik Tok is “mind relaxing.”
Thirdly, Tik Tok “usability” allows users to navigate between videos more easily. Moreover, Tik Tokers have added that the platform is also simple to learn and has “powerful special effects editing.”
But recently, there has been an increased interest in more educational content on the platform.
And journalists have used Tik Tok to tell and share their stories more simply and creatively. Sophia Smith Galers has sung a sea shanty about the Suez Canal blockage that can be watched below.
Or The Washington Post has created a Tik Tok show talking about the effectiveness of different vaccines, which can be found below.
But as the journalists are present on Tik Tok and create their stories specifically for the platform, are there any genres that dominate this social media?
And if yes, the next question would be how news media organisations are using the platform?
I will explore these further in the next step of our journey in the next post so stay with me.
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