TikTok - The Most Authentic Social Media Platform?
News Peg
TikTok on the surface seems like just another social media app that has become a phenomenon. From Facebook to Twitter to Snapchat to Instagram, we have seen the changing trends. It’s certainly difficult to determine which app would be the “next big thing” for users.
Based on the generation, demographic, and even geographical location, the main social media app changes. America barely uses Whatsapp, but for countries like India and Brazil it is very popular.
In a similar way, TikTok is clearly one of the major social media applications, but primarily used by a specific generation - Gen Z. Not only is it rising in popularity amongst Gen Z, but it is starting to define them as well.
TikTok claims to have over 800 million active monthly users worldwide. It has been downloaded 1.5 billion times, and it has more users than Twitter, SnapChat, and Reddit. While Asia has widely popularized the short-video producing and sharing social media app since its Chinese founder, ByteDance, 60% of TikTok users are from Gen Z, meaning ages 7 to 22.
What Makes TikTok So Attractive to Gen Z
According to Stefan Pollack, the President of the Pollack PR Marketing Group, TikTok is unique because of its ability to allow users to create raw and honest video content easily and creatively.
“Because TikTok serves up media based upon an algorithm and not based upon followers, it is engineered to be fleeting,” Pollack said. “There is less pressure to present yourself as well-produced and professional.”
TikTok also is popular for short, dance videos and routines. These routines allow the users and creators to build off one another and immediately broadcast it to countless people.
Without having to look into the following, TikTok allows the process of creating content and producing quick, creative videos for social media influencers easier.
From lip-syncing videos to dance routines to comedic sketches, TikTok has differentiated itself in the market and attracted Gen Z because of its speed, liberty, quirkiness, and rawness.
The Honesty Of TikTok
Pollack also points out that marketers should take note of what TikTok’s rise truly means for Gen Z - “it means they want real experiences with real people and the less it heads down that way of filtered manufactured content, the better.”
TikTok’s rise may be promoting us the subtle, underlying need that social media apps have consistently been unable to fulfill - reality. Whether it be the artistic photos posted on Instagram, or the facade of friendship on Facebook, or the dangers of fake news on Twitter and WhatsApp, it is clear that these social media apps have not only posed a loophole but a threat - fakeness or distortions of reality.
These distortions have, at a deeper level, led to cases of depression amongst users for trying to live up to a facade, and even the dangers of fake news and journalism.
But, it is possible that a generation that has grown up with or into the world of social media - there is a deep need for reality and authenticity. For marketers and businesses as well, “authenticity” has become the new mantra to attract attention on social media.
TikTok’s rise may be a sign of just that. It may be a sign of relief and hope for Gen Zers who seek an avenue to be themselves and display comedy, fun, dance, and singing through a social media app.
But Is Authenticity Really Possible On Social Media?
Despite the hype around TikTok being a medium for users, especially Gen Z creators, it is a valid question to ask - is authenticity truly possible on social media?
Regardless of the medium, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, or TikTok, the question has always been asked.
“It’s one of the very few platforms that celebrates the art of authenticity in its purest form, instead of playing up to who people want to be,” Amelia Westerberg, a strategist from R/GA, said. “TikTok speaks its own language and users are very quick to spot inauthenticity.”
TikTok has certainly shown its ability to show everyday life, language, and presentations, but that may not necessarily be the case.
According to Attest, the majority of these TikTok creators edit their videos, and 48.8% of the users stated that they post the highlights of their lives.
People also spend more time editing the videos on TikTok than producing it - that is more time than any other social media platform.
Thus, the fact of the matter is TikTok still has its level of inauthenticity. Though the users are being transparent and open in the TikTok videos, the editing and cutting shows that there is still a facade or a show put forth on the platform.
The question certainly arises - will it ever be possible for social media to present the reality and the world as they are? Will there always be a filter?
No matter the generation and platform, currently we do see the filters existing. Social media will always create another version or at least edited version of our real lives. Even if the fun and creative TikTok allows Gen Z to “be themselves,” it still doesn’t present the full picture.
The beauty of TikTok is the realization that Gen Z seeks reality and authenticity in the world of social media. But the truth is that we may never actually see the reflection as it is.