Abstract

With the rise of increased technology and social media, people are challenged to change and adopt the idea of community and maintaining a sense of belonging. This article seeks out to explore the nature of what traditionally formed a community and how over time, has evolved into a modernised community online in relation to mobility, technology and communication. Using the fashion community on TikTok as a case study, the purpose of this article is to understand virtual communities in order to encourage, incorporate and not limit people on forming a sense of belonging and meaningful connections online. 

 Key Words: Online community, community, social media, TikTok, Mobility, Technology, Communication

 

Introduction

Everybody wants to seek out and feel a sense of belonging, to be a part of a community. With new age advancements of technology, traditional structures of what we once defined as a community are being challenged, reshaped, and changed (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). The rise of social media platforms, also known as Web 2.0, has been able to inspire and facilitate people in finding specific communities online that provide them a group of likeminded individuals with shared interests and ultimately, a sense of belonging (Hampton, 2016; Delanty, 2018;). The social media application TikTok, is an audio-visual media platform that first launched in 2016, since then it has become a prominent application (app) in facilitating and aiding virtual communities (Fleming, 2024). Its manufacturing allows users to create and share audio -visual videos as a way to collaborate and connect with other people around the globe (Fleming, 2024). This essay examines the FashionTok community and argues how virtual communities are redefining the way we once traditionally formed societies, giving rise to virtuality that enable users the freedom to be educated, supported, communicate, and receive a sense of belonging. Using tools from TikTok, this will be explored and explained through factors that define a community such as mobility, technology, and communication.

 

Mobility

Online communities, in particular, the fashion community on TikTok, encourages new ways of forming groups virtually, that enable users to feel connected to a community. Traditionally, a factor that was embedded into the ideology of a community, was mobility (Hampton, 2016). Mobility is the ability to move freely and easily, however in the context of a premodern community, Hampton (2016) explores how the ability to move around was limited, and the community you formed was very small and dense, consisting of those who were located in your area. And when people within your community relocated, the capacity to maintain your previous community was taken away (Hampton, 2016). This traditional way of viewing a community is limiting and relevant to the culture and context of the premodern time period but can also still be evident in rural communities such as Indigenous communities (Hampton, 2016). However, in today’s modern society, the idea of mobility in relation to community is vastly different (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016). With the combination of technology advancements and increased use in social media, the way people communicate with each other is mostly through digital forms (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016). The positive outcome from this is that virtual groups utilize is the factor of mobility being completely removed from the picture (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016). This means, people are able to form large communities that don’t depend on geographics or relocation as people will still be able to feel connected online, despite the separation (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016).

 

An example of this can be seen in the FashionTok community on TikTok. This is a collective of people whose shared interests are all things included under fashion, such as clothing, shoes, accessories, and styling (Cortez, 2022; Lee, 2020). Traditionally, events like fashion week and runway shows were face-to-face and had a set location. In order to be a part of the specific events and the community, you had to physically be there. Whilst events like this are still beneficial to have in person, this reinforces the premodern idea where communities were based on location and limited mobility (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016). However, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, between lockdown restrictions and social distancing, TikTok launched their very own fashion month, which included various videos of virtual runways and influencers providing styling advice to users (Cinelli et al., 2020; Lee, 2020). With features such as live streaming, liking, and saving of videos, this is a clear example of TikTok providing a platform for the FashionTok community, that encourages virtuality, giving users the immediacy of being there without needing mobility (Cinelli et al., 2020; Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016). Thus, this supports the idea that TikTok facilitates virtual communities by enabling people to feel welcomed and included. However, we should also acknowledge that there are other factors involved that determine what a community is based upon, such as technology and communication (Hampton, 2016).

 

Technology

As humans we are “tool dependent beings” (Delanty, 2018, p. 202). Technology is another tool that has changed the way people traditionally formed communities (Hampton, 2016). Now, forming online communities has allowed people to stay connected through devices that mediate contact within communities (Hampton, 2016). Before technology, groups were, as we discussed previously, small, compact, and based on location (Delanty, 2018; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). Without technology, people were restricted to the groups localized to them, but with urbanization movement paving the way for change in community structure and technology advancements, what we once saw as a small collective, started growing and expanding (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). In today’s society, our generation is heavily reliant on technology, such as laptops, iPad’s mobile phones and tablets (Cortez, 2022; Sot, 2022). They are portable mediated devices that allow people to stay engaged and connected to their associated communities online, instantaneously (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). Alongside technology, social media like TikTok has provided a space for users to participate, produce and consume content all at the same time, without needing to leave the app (Delanty, 2018; Pitre, 2023).

 

As we saw in the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of negative mental health increased, and the idea of community was extremely challenged and forced to change in relation to how we stayed connected with others (Cinelli et al., 2020). Virtual communities were becoming the focal point of human interaction and relied heavily on technology to maintain relationships (Hampton & Wellman, 2018). Since the pandemic FashionTok communities main source of technology and medium is their mobile phones, in which they receive information and then reproduce the same media (Cortez, 2022; Pitre, 2023). An example of this is by filming and participating in the production, and distribution of content related to fashion (Cortez, 2022; Fleming, 2024). This is demonstrated by people from the community who have been creating TikToks that show off their outfits, style different pieces of clothing, demonstrate colour matching and informing users on specific brands cost effective, good quality and vice versa (Cortez, 2022; Pitre, 2023). A function on TikTok and most social media apps that leverages the production and distribution of content associated to the online community algorithmic based intelligence (Boczkowski et al., 2018; Ohlheiser, 2021; Pitre, 2023). This is where the software of the app filters content specific to you based on videos you’ve searched, viewed, and interacted with (Ohlheiser, 2021; Pitre, 2023). This means for the fashion community; they will continue to view and receive content that is relevant to the group they are involved in. although this feature can be limiting users in branching out to other communities, they are able to maintain content that is curated for them (Boczkowski et al., 2018; Ohlheiser, 2021; Pitre, 2023). Thus, through technology being used as a mediated way of forming communities, users stray from traditional ideas that once formed societies, and aiding the idea of virtual groups that enable users a sense of belonging. Which leads into the final point and factor that supports virtual communities, communication.

 

Communication

The final core factor that defines and enables users to feel a sense of belonging in community is communication. Traditionally communication was an easy way to stay connected to communities, as they were small and compact (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). However, as the world progressed and technology was becoming incorporated into our everyday lives, traditional methods are becoming less common (Delanty, 2018). Today, it is almost impossible to not be a part of a type of community online as it is easy for people to connect with others when there is somewhat an anonymous nature about it. TikTok, encourages new ways of forming groups virtually, which enable users to feel connected to a community. Being able to communicate to people, even just one, has the ability to impact individuals in a way that doesn’t make them feel singular and rather, a part of a community (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016; Sedon et al., 2023; Sot, 2022). An aspect of the modern community explored by Hampton (2016), is the idea that communities nowadays are persistent-pervasive communities, which means persistent contact and pervasive awareness. Persistent contact relies on communicative technology which facilitates people to express important events and sustain communication over time (Hampton, 2016; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). Pervasive awareness is where ambient digital communication offers users information of interests, location, opinions, and activities of everyday life to others in general or online (Hampton, 2016). Together, these affordances renew the limitations and opportunities of traditional community structure (Hampton & Wellman, 2018).

 

The Fashion industry is fast and evolving which is where persistent contact is needed for users to stay on top of latest trends for fashion and TikTok (Cortez, 2022). An example of persistent-pervasive community in practice on TikTok is through the collaborative chat functions, geo-location and tagging functions within the app (Cortez, 2022; Sot, 2022). This allows users to constantly communicate between each other privately, in groups or in the comments section in the video (Pitre, 2023).  The FashionTok community leverages this function to collaborate, communicate and share information such as brands, products, influencers, and information (Cortez, 2022). In 2021 it was discovered that 41% of users who were engaged with TikTok the most, were aged 16-21 (Cervi, 2021). This means that this social media app is mostly targeted towards people of the younger generation, limiting engagement and communication to a small portion of users (Cervi, 2021). What Sot (2022) found in his interviewing process for his conducted study, was that generally, most people preferred communicating on TikTok as the app had been able to grow and foster intimacy, which is why they are an asset in forming communities (Sot, 2022). So, although TikTok/online communities can be limited to set audiences, the app still tries to encourage intergeneration for all users to broaden different types of communication and communities (Cervi, 2021). All in all, this supports the idea that TikTok encourages users to stray from traditional ideas of what forms a community and provide a platform that facilitates virtual communities by enabling people to feel welcomed and included.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, when we think of community we can often think of place, face to face contact and small strong ties. However, in this day and age, community is being reshaped and developed into a concept that can also exist virtually (Delanty, 2018; Hampton, 2016; Hampton & Wellman, 2018). People are no longer traditionally bound to their small and dense networks of people, we have to move past these traditional ideologies and learn to understand and accept the way people communicate in today’s society (Delanty, 2018). Whilst we shouldn’t disregard the value in face-to-face communication communities, social media apps such as TikTok are paving the way for new communities to emerge, such as the fashion community (Cortez, 2022). This essay explored traditional ideologies which once formed a community, and how those structures have changed, developed, and been expressed in different ways through the advancements of technology. Factors such as mobility, technology, and communication, a further understanding can be distinguished about virtual communities. As social media becomes one of the main forms of facilitating communities, we were able to observe how the FashionTok community utilizes TikTok as a way to create and be a part of a virtual collective that supports, informs, communicates, and gives people a place where they can feel intimacy and a sense of belonging.

 

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