Online or digital communities refer to groups of people who meet and community via the internet that share common interests or values with one another (Burns-Stanning, 2020). These loosely connected communities have their own sets of rules and regulations and can be monitored and managed online within the community. Online communities benefit from sharing experiences and knowledge to create open conversations and learn from others on topics of interest. These communities are safe, happy places to provide confidence to users to be successful communities. Activists use communities to bond, show support and educate themselves on serious political issues. These political, social issues are consistent with many things and work towards bettering society for future generations. This paper will explore the ways activism communities are employing the affordances of TikTok to educate consumers and promote positive social change.
Hi Yana! Its nice to read your paper I agree that Tiktok does stimulates new wave of activism in a good way. The video sharing platform allows people to gain knowledge in details with just 60 seconds video. Who would have thought a 60 second video could create a movement to fight inequality or who would have thought a 60 second video could impacted someone’s live in a positive way due to a positive change trend. There is so much information gained from Tiktok and people prefer Tiktok more than Youtube.
My question is, what’s your comment knowing the fact that there will always be a party that can potentially provoke social media user’s by uploading offensive content covered up with good messages or videos? because there will always be that kind of situation and most social media platform and Tiktok can be potential to that case. How can you guarantee that despite Tiktok creates new way of activism in a good way, Tiktok can also guarantee its users that Tiktok provides meaningful and original sources of information to be spread?
Thankyou
Hi Yana,
I really enjoyed your paper about activism on TikTok! Such a current and interesting topic.
I found your points about how TikTok has created a supportive network for different communities a very valid point. I know you mentioned that the TikTok comments section is where most of the feedback is presented and where the community can be formed. However, I know personally on my ‘for you page’ there are still many negative comments and hurtful messages presented within this section. I feel that this could be harmful to the supportive network you mentioned. These comments I know can really affect a person’s mental health and I believe TikTok as a platform has opened the door and to a comments section that is not very well policed and therefore can be quite negative at times. I would love to know your thoughts on this!
I also think it is great that there are communities formed on TikTok. As this is due to an echo chamber effect, I believe some negatives come with it. Users often will be presented with content they align or agree with. This can mean that a user’s ideas are not often challenged in the activism sense, like your paper mentioned. Although they may still align with the same ideologies after seeing another user point of view, do you not still think it is important as a community we learn about the different point of views to make a more balanced judgement on political ideals? I personally believe that although the echo chamber ensures I see content that I enjoy it can cause a narrow-minded view on activism points due to a lack of opposing content appearing on a users ‘for you page’. Again I would love to know your thoughts on this.
A very well written paper!
Thank you!
Grace
Hi Grace, thanks for chatting with me!
You are right, negative comments will filter through every platform, and TikTok is no exception. However, I do believe with TikTok’s strategic algorithm users are presented with content that presents similar values to the viewers. I believe it is through this that negative comments have been reduced in general.
If you are interested in TikTok and how its algorithm works, this is a great read: https://tinuiti.com/blog/paid-social/tiktok-algorithm/
Again, thank you for reading and giving me your feedback. 🙂
It is arguable that Tiktok acts just like any other media has/does – it provides ‘soundbites’, quick, truncated, simplistic snapshots of news, debates, or ideas, that can easily be misconstrued, or are simply not nuanced enough to really get a proper message across.
How good is this, really, for activism or social change?
It’s almost like this is memeifying activism, dumbing it down into bite-sized chunks of video and audio so that millions of users can share it with millions of others without actually putting substance into the content.
Isn’t that what Twitter does as well?
Why is Tiktok better than, say, Youtube, which actually takes the time to delve deeper into substances?
Hey Andrew, thank you for your feedback!
I believe TikTok’s algorithm is what really has changed the ways in which activism is promoted. Unlike Twitter, TikTok creates communities around shared values and it is this element that has allowed for a greater spread of information and ideas, in comparison to Twitter. These ‘soundbites’ are what captures a viewer and engage them to do further research. Employing TikTok alongside other platforms such as YouTube can be a very useful strategy as the longer videos on YouTube can dive deeper into interesting topics.
Although TikTok is relatively new, it has captured an extremely wide audience, but is sure indeed is just one of many platforms that allow users to express their values and become activists on online platforms (and hopefully offline to)!
Hi Yana,
Congratulations on publishing your paper about the activism activities that are emerging on the TikTok platform.
I also researched the TikTok platform and the way it’s unique set of affordances allow online communities to form, such as with the theatre and stage management communities that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In your paper you argue that “TikTok is a platform for positive social change”. While I agree that there are many positive trends that have gained prominence on TikTok, there are also harmful and negative trends that have emerged on the platform.
For example, in a study conducted by Serrano et al. (2020), the authors found that “Republican users generated more political content and their videos received more responses” (p. 257) than Democratic videos, and used hashtags such as #openyoureyes and #facts (p. 262). They also discovered that the hashtag #Trump2020 had a total of 1.1 billion views which at the time was only 1,687 views less than the most famous hashtag on TikTok #foryou (Serrano et al., 2020, p. 263).
From the examples shown by Serrano et al. (2020), I would argue that, like older social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook, there is very much a liberal and conservative side to TikTok.
I would love to hear your thoughts on my argument.
Cheers,
Mads
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Serrano, J. C. M., Papakyriakopoulos, O., & Hegelich, S. (2020). Dancing to the Partisan Beat: A First Analysis of Political Communication on TikTok. 12th ACM Conference on Web Science, 257–266. https://doi.org/10.1145/3394231.3397916
I absolutely agree with you!
I think that is why I find TikTok so interesting, it has so many sides to it and the algorithm is very connected to its user. And I think that is why some people wrote some papers on TikTok and freedom of speech to express identity.
Although I do not agree with many Republican ideas or values, I can appreciate platforms that allow for free speech within a set of conditions.
Thank you for taking the time to read this paper, I loved learning more about an application I use so often and I’m glad other people can see the positive change that is happening on the platform. Let’s just hope this is the side of TikTok that is most popular!!!
This paper is not only topical and insightful, but it captures the zeitgeist of Tiktok and its influence in todays modern world to generate positive change. Great work!
Thanks for the lovely words Liv!
Hey Yana, super fascinating paper! I think you really captured the positive impact tiktok can have on our future & the ability we have to initiate change on such a widely used platform. Amazing!
It is truly an amazing and interesting platform!
Hi Yana, very interesting topic, TikTok has such a strong, young minded, progressive audience to it that allows its creators to share their own values and beliefs so well! Great read.
Hey Niamh. I love seeing everyone using TikTok to stand up for what they believe in. Thanks for reading!
this is a really interesting topic and great to read
Hey Lily, I am glad you were able to have a read and enjoyed it!
this was a super interesting topic and great to read