When TikTok first permeated the mainstream in March 2020 individuals, myself included, flocked to the platform for leisure throughout a dismal time.
However we weren’t simply mindlessly consuming content material; we had been posting it too. You might replenish a complete afternoon by studying the dance to “Renegade” or “Say So.” The general public that populated our FYPs had been nobodies who the algorithm had blessed with a viral hit (notable exceptions embody TikTok influencers like Charli D’Amelio, Addison Rae, and Lil Huddy — younger individuals who constructed large followings whereas taking part in dance challenges on the app).
On TikTok, everyone seems to be starring in their very own TV present
Then, the app began to evolve. Dance movies turned much less frequent guests to our FYPs — although, they by no means actually died — and as a substitute a complete new host of traits began to fill the void. Each week, there was a brand new pattern or hit audio that customers utilized to their very own lives in extremely relatable methods. There was the little lad who loves berries and cream and the proliferation of “Jiggle Jiggle,” and let’s not forgot how your entire web was “bored in the home (in the home bored)” in 2020.
Nowadays, TikTok does not want random individuals to take part in traits as a way to create content material. There’s a complete class of creators occupying each conceivable area of interest, from popular culture evaluation to medical myth-busting. Beforehand, a TikTok pattern might attain each nook of the worldwide platform. Whether or not it was a dance or a preferred sound, everybody from each neighborhood joined in. So, why does all of it really feel so completely different now? The times when a singular pattern was inescapable on the app are lengthy over, worn out by an ecosystem — and a tradition — that is changing into more and more extra esoteric.
Customers observe creators, not traits. And oftentimes these creators dictate the form of expertise you may have on the app. That particular person creator branding has, partially, killed the ubiquity of the pattern. It is by no means been simpler to remain within your individual TikTok bubble.
It additionally does not assist that the app itself has made some latest adjustments that make it tougher to interact with content material. For instance, now TikTok notifies customers when somebody views their profile and favorites their movies, which has discouraged customers from favoriting and lurking on common customers pages.
TikTok has additionally develop into clogged with recycled memes from different platforms, due to its photograph mode that enables customers to put up photograph dumps of as much as 35 photographs. This new characteristic helped popularize one thing just like the Fletcher meme that was throughout Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok concurrently, counting on the repetition of photos relatively than customers appearing out traits in entrance of the digital camera. This made it virtually indiscernible from memes on different platforms.
There are nonetheless traits that break by, but it surely’s not the “pattern of the week” expertise that when populated the app (and pattern reporting). Taylor Swift followers dominated the app with Midnights dances and traits, and Home of the Dragon star Emma D’Arcy’s pronunciation of “negroni sbagliato” consumed the web for weeks. Main popular culture moments, like Midnights, are repackaged into traits by intelligent fan advertising and marketing, however now they depend on customers straight participating with the content material, relatively than being utterly divorced from the context of the unique video. It is unlikely that @mikael.arellano‘s viral dance to Swift’s “Bejeweled” can be carried out on the app by anybody who does not model themselves as a Swiftie on the platform.
Originally of the pandemic, TikTok felt like a neighborhood of individuals taking part in traits to get by the day. It was a communal expertise. Now, these communities have splintered, creating one thing extra private. It was sure to occur. Area of interest creators are making content material for his or her devoted audiences, not for the mainstream — there is no cash in that.
Nonetheless, I miss seeing everybody’s goofy interpretation of a pattern. However most of all, I miss clicking on their web page and realizing they’re simply one other common TikTok consumer like me.
