Abstract
Trends and challenges have become essential to social networking sites, especially TikTok and Instagram, visual content platforms. A particular topic could become the talk of all people worldwide through trends and challenges, even if the issue has been long overlooked. The latest trend that attracts most TikTok and Instagram users is the #ofcourse trend. Beginning in November 2023, at least 871,000 TikTok videos and 457.000 Instagram Reels were posted under the #ofcourse hashtag until early April 2024. These numbers include a number of celebrities and influencers, and the rest are mostly from the diaspora.
The #ofcourse trend is a short video challenge that reveals one’s identity with the behaviours associated with their ethnic, cultural, or even racial background. The author sees the tendency for this trend to facilitate changes in stereotypes and judgements toward certain nations. People celebrate the unique habits that attach to their identity, turn tragedy into comedy, as well as address the misunderstanding toward their nation while still presenting a sense of humour. This trend has potentially developed a sense of belonging and pride within diasporic communities which usually hide their true identity due to the inferior feeling of their origin.
Upon analysing the impact of the #ofcourse trend on TikTok and Instagram in embracing the ethnicity of the diasporic community, the author elaborates on key factors that cause ethnic inferiority and explores how the #ofcourse challenge conquers them. This paper also analyses the threat that this trend might bring in terms of ethnicity revelation on social media.
Keywords: Ethnic Inferiority, Diaspora, Diasporic Community, Social Media Trends, #ofcourse trend, Online Representation, Cultural Identity
Introduction
Trends is not a new term in social media, it has been around for quite a long time and recently became the essential part of social media, especially in the era where algorithms decide the discoverability of the contents. Along with the growth of social media, trends also evolve and look different on each platform. Asur et al. (2011) explained that in Twitter, trends mean that in a pool of issues, a particular topic was able to catch the majority of people’s attention and become popular. Hashtag, the feature that is popularly used in Twitter and symbolised the effort to raise a particular issue to be the trending topic, adopted by many other social media platforms, including Instagram. As a platform of visual contents, the posts should be visually attractive to be able to become the trends in Instagram. Then the most recent social media platform came and changed the game: TikTok. The trends in TikTok are called FYP, the acronym of For You Page. Despite having many distinctive features, both TikTok and Instagram are visual Social Networking Sites, the posts in TikTok are short videos, which are later adopted by Instagram as a new feature named Reels. These two platforms also grow rapidly due to the convergence of audio and visual media which makes it easier for the users not only to understand information, but also to engage in content creation. Heinrichs et al. (2011) suggested that the features of social media which encourage people to be involved as creators, have allowed users to be networked and opened the opportunity to become influential. Due to the possibility to gain power in influencing users, the posts that make their way to be the trend in TikTok and Instagram could play an important role to promote a lifestyle, advertise products, shape perspectives, and even raise awareness in particular issues or one’s identity. One of the most recent trends that represents social media’s trend ability in acknowledging one’s identity is the #ofcourse trend on TikTok and Instagram which people use to introduce themselves and the things that they believe are associated with them.
Due to the amusing and relatable concept, the #ofcourse trend has attracted people from various backgrounds, even celebrities like Mariah Carey and Kim Kardashian participated, making the #ofcourse trend a phenomenon of culture (Henneman, 2024). The #ofcourse trend is a concept of short video where the creator mentions the community they belong to, i.e. genders, beliefs, ethnicity, and many other forms of identity. Then, they will mention the list of behaviours that define their community. One of the most frequent forms of identity that is brought up in the #ofcourse video is ethnicity. Through the #ofcourse trend videos, people enjoy talking about their racial background and not being ashamed to talk about unusual aspects, such as trauma or even the stereotypes that are attached to their identity. Simply put, the trend has been helping to promote cultural diversity as well as overcoming ethnic inferiority, especially for people who live miles from their origin. This trend is very significant for the diasporic community as it manifests the finding of a study done by Diamandaki (2003) and Harrigan et al. (2012) that suggested that by sharing the relatable messages, a community can find their similarities and affect each other in a positive way. In this case, the #ofcourse trend allegedly enables migrants to build a network with people of the same cultural background and digitally find a sense of belonging or possibly pride of their ethnicity while living in a place that serves them as a minority.
It is presumed that ethnic inferiority is allegedly linked to the existing socio-cultural issues such as colonialism, language barrier, and the absence of certain group’s representatives in mass media. This paper will discuss this issue and how the #ofcourse trend on social media helps the less portrayed communities embracing their ethnicity.
Ethnic Inferiority
Although the topic about cultural diversity and equality have created the buzz both in online and offline campaigns, the ethnic inferiority often still be experienced by diaspora who are usually the minority in the place they currently reside in. Due to the appearances and habitual differences, people who migrate as well as their descendants often face the complexity of defining themselves in the middle society. An article written by Georgiou (2013) indicated that immigrants are frequently being alienated and treated differently which makes them feel excluded and insecure.
One of the circumstances that preserves this situation is colonialism which even after it ended decades ago, the inequality that put the colonised race in a less favourable position still lingers up to these days (Engerman and Sokoloff, 2005). Colonised nations used to have no access to education, health, and many other basic human rights. In addition, post-colonial trauma to nations also plays a role in perpetuating the ethnic inferiority. Long history of injustice and humiliation had shaped the low self-image, leading to the insecurity and the feeling of embarrassment upon their nation (Robins and Jones, 2009). People from a colonised country often see themselves and their culture as less valuable compared to the nation that once oppressed them. This perspective could be the result of a massive doctrine about racial classification that was even transferred through kids’ literacy during the colonialism era (Bradford, 2012). The trauma and values then remain and pass down from one to the other generations. This explains the behaviour of feeling less than others due to one’s ethnicity that often lingers even after the occupation ends and they have access to higher education or migrate to the other part of the world.
The other reason that allegedly leads to the ethnic inferiority is linguistic identity which one of its aspects is accents. A study conducted by Dovcin (2020) revealed a terrifying fact of bullying that happened to international students in Australia due to their non-native accents in speaking English. Accents are often associated with stereotypes and social class, one could feel embarrassed or proud depending on which category their accent belongs to (Landivar Landa, 2022). The hierarchy of accent actually seems to have a connection to colonialism as often the less preferable accents are the ones from colonised nations, while on the other hand, the oppressor’s accent is preserved as a sophisticated one. A coloniser usually has power to shape the identity of the people they dominate (Grosfoguel, 2004). Orelus (2021) argued that favouritism toward particular accents are the heritage of imperialism while the people who speak with non favourable dialects are frequently treated with injustice and discrimination. Tankosic et al. (2021) also found a strong correlation between linguistic inferiority and accents in people who speak English as their second language. Even today, we can still easily find people praising particular accents while also making fun of the other ones. This linguistic inferiority actually does not only happen to the people who reside abroad, even within the same country, the dialects from non-capital cities often seen as less favourable ones and in the worst case, become the reason for bullying. Therefore, many people choose to imitate a certain dialect and hide their true identity in order to be accepted in one community. Moreover, Cheung (2022) found that compared to various kinds of cultural prejudice, the discrimination towards particular accents is a form of injustice that is somehow accepted by society and often seen as a normal thing.
Besides colonialism and linguistic inferiority, the groups that are considered minorities are usually less represented across multiple sectors. Moreover, most of the mainstream media does not give the voices or enough coverage for certain ethnicities and causes the lack of representation in public broadcast. In fact, the media has a role in bridging the communication as well as establishing society’s point of views regarding relevant issues (Bleich et al., 2018). Atuel et al. (2007) argued that representation in media is essential as it may impact the identity construction for a particular community. While not being represented, the chance of inferiority of one ethnic group increases, as they do not see that their existence matters and may lose the sense of belonging. Certain groups’ identity may be seen as quirky or even abnormal because people are not exposed enough to the portrayal of a diverse cultural and racial background. Furthermore, the lack of representation for migrants may cause tension and stigma towards the diaspora community as people of different backgrounds do not have enough knowledge to understand them. In the end, it is possible that in an attempt to be accepted in their residing place, a group of ethnic minorities will try to hide their identity instead of wearing it as a pride. However, the era of social media has shed a light for the group of people who were not being portrayed in mass media. Social networking sites provide equal space for everyone to express and tell the world about their identity.
The #ofcourse trend and Digitally Networked Diaspora
@ben.duong we’re asian🇻🇳🇨🇳🇯🇵🇰🇷🇵🇭🇰🇭
One of the #ofcourse videos on TikTok, talking about the comments encountered by Asian diaspora.
There are at least 871,000 of TikTok videos and 457.000 of Instagram Reels posted under the #ofcourse hashtag until the beginning of April 2024. The top posts within this trend are dominated by diaspora’s ethnicity theme and millions of users were engaged in these posts. This phenomenon resonates with Johnson and Callahan (2013) study that found the possibility of social media to provide a space for the infamous culture to be expressed and seen in a positive perspective. New media in this case also projects the elimination of boundaries which enables the diasporic community to be networked by the similarities of their cultural background that are represented online (Georgiou, 2013). The engagement in #ofcourse trend is a portrayal of the virtual community defined by Andersson (2019), a non-geographical place for cultural expression that was born as social media offers an equal place for everyone to be represented publicly.
Prior to the #ofcourse trend, many attempts have been made in campaigning the awareness of ethnic diversity on digital platforms. This kind of online social movement aims to eliminate discrimination and racism that as discussed above, frequently occur to immigrants. The campaigns, however, were mostly delivered in a standard form and non-humorous way. This is understandable as the topics around ethnicity and injustice are sensitive issues. Then came the #ofcourse trend succeeded in gaining attention and involving people to introduce their stereotyped background with humour. Sakshi (2024) believes that the trend began in November 2023 on TikTok, when @experiencecamps posted a video about the behaviour of grieving people. Although in the beginning, this trend did not talk about ethnicity, the phrasal template rapidly evolved to be used in explaining various forms of identity, including cultural background. The impressive thing about this trend is that it tries to normalise the stereotype that is linked into a particular identity. Through the #ofcourse trend, people can also turn tragedy into a comedy and embrace it together with others who find the situation as a relatable event.
Furthermore, the #ofcourse trend does not only promote the culture and behaviour that is associated with certain ethnicity as a form of normality, but some videos also raise sensitive issues such as the history of colonialism or the traumatic experiences that previously are only understood by the represented group. The concept of this trend has allowed digital diaspora not only to connect with each other but also help people outside the group, even those who belong to privileged communities, to be aware of the situation that was probably unimaginable before and build empathy. This understanding is significant in achieving the goal of an equal real world. Altimira and Casanueva (2017) believe that equality can easily come true when people in a community are exposed with awareness of background diversity.
The accents which previously discussed as one of the factors that prompts the feeling of inferiority, is also represented in some of #ofcourse trend content. Many accents that were perceived as the embarrassing aspect of one’s identity, are used in the posts and become relatable representations which encourage people of the ethnicity to share it with pride. One of the examples of this case is the #ofcourse trend videos posted by @hidayah_subaer on Instagram. As an Indonesian diaspora in Canada, she actively portrays her cultural background and uses Makassar’s dialect, which is one of Indonesia’s regional accents that is often stigmatised as a rude accent as it is completely different from the capital city’s (Jakarta) dialect and being under-represented for a long time. The #ofcourse trend has helped certain groups of communities overcome linguistic inferiority by representing as well as connecting diasporic groups that geographically live in distance from one to another. de Bres and Nicholas (2021) found that a positive representation upon one accent is strongly impactful in lifting the insecurity of one’s accent. By representing accents, this trend does not only change the perspective that particular accents are less favourable but also builds awareness that although dialects symbolise one’s unique identity, not a single variety of linguistics should lead to an exclusion or even bullying.
However, as many other trends on social media, the #ofcourse trend also has some possible drawbacks in terms of embracing diaspora’s cultural background. First of all, the stereotypes that are portrayed as comedy in trending videos may hurt the community instead of helping them to accept it as their part of identity. Moreover, the way people react to a post in social media may vary and on many occasions are difficult to predict. The other thing about this trend that should be highlighted is that it could also exaggerate the portrayal of a particular culture. Despite experiencing the same life as diaspora, people could still define their identity in a different perspective, therefore, particular topics might not be acceptable as the representation of their background. This can also lead to misrepresentation which instead of shaping a positive image of one community, an #ofcourse trend video may present racism toward a certain group. Nessi García (2019) also found that communication through social media could be a form of preserving social class instead of promoting equality, especially when the representation of a community comes from privileged groups. Hence, if the #ofcourse trend still has the probability to scatter the diaspora instead of networking them digitally.
Conclusion
Throughout this paper, the socio-cultural issues such as inequality, linguistic prejudice, and lack of media coverage that drive the inferiority upon the cultural background of diasporic communities has been discussed. At the same time, social media appeared to be a form of new media that shed a light in providing a neutral and equal cyberspace for cultural diversity. The recent trend which is called the #ofcourse trend challenge became popular on TikTok and Instagram. The phrasal template brings a concept of introducing the under-represented identity in a short and amusing way. The trend has engaged millions of users over TikTok and Instagram only months after it first began. Stereotypes and unfamiliar behaviours that are associated with particular ethnicity, are being expressed as a normality through this trend. The #ofcourse trend conquers the inferiority, under-representation, and prejudices that has long occurred to certain groups of ethnicities. It provides digital connection through the promotion of similar experiences among diasporic people and helps them overcome ethnic inferiority.
Nevertheless, as many other occurrences in social media, there is a possibility of unpredictable and unwanted reactions towards posts within the #ofcourse trend. The represented community might not feel that they are correctly being portrayed, especially because even online diaspora with similar cultural background, may have different situations in economic and social background. In some cases, instead of constructing a positive view on the promoted culture, the posts might preserve prejudice and stereotypes instead. In the end, social media and trends are only tools and how they work really depends on the way people take a stand.
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