#95: TikTok Academy
Create your very first TikTok. Now.
Hello.
You are reading Understanding TikTok. FBI Director Christopher Wray is 'extremely concerned' TikTok could be used to spy on Americans. Meanwhile TikTok extends lead as U.S. teens favorite platform, the estimated and projected number of active users on the platform 2023 - 2025 are pretty impressive (Statista) and TikTok plans to double staff (The Information). My name is Marcus.
Today we talk about:
🇺🇸 After the Midterms
🧮 The Affective Algorithms of Conspiracy TikTok
🏫 The TikTok Academy
🇺🇸 After the Midterms
No red wave, nearly no chaos, and not that many virals. "It's been really nice to have a return to what I consider the norms of our democracy — you know, accepting election results, the peaceful transition of power" to quote New Mexico Secretary of State Oliver (NPR).
Many young creators were obviously more interested in discussing their midterm exams than the elections on the platform (NBC News) but – they voted! “We see that young people turned out at the second-highest rate in midterm elections that we've seen over the past [50] years, and that’s second to 2018, which saw the highest youth voter turnout that we've seen since the early '70s,” Abby Kiesa, deputy director of CIRCLE, told Yahoo News. According to the Edison Research National Election Pool exit poll, the national youth vote this year leaned heavily Democratic, with 63% voting for Democrats and 35% for Republicans. Experts say young voters prevented a “red wave”.
Correlation does not imply causation {insert your favorite meme on that here} but probably TikTok did play a role after all. See #94. Shelby Cole, Deputy Chief Marketing Officer - Digital Content and Creative at Democratic National Committee shared ten DNC TikTok videos on Twitter. Watching these and reading about it there seem to be two distinct strategies.
1. Get creators on board 👈
“The key to quote-unquote winning TikTok in the political space isn’t about your own content as much as it’s about how you are getting your message out through creators,” Rob Flaherty, the White House’s director of digital strategy, told Bloomberg News.“ Biden and TikTok — an odd couple, Washington Post. See #94.
2. Get a young staffer to advice you how to do something that is not too cringe 👈
“By handing over the reins to young staffers, candidates are better positioned to make the content and participate in the viral trends that best resonate with young voters.” The midterms turned politicians into content creators, The Verge
Both do not come without risk, but seem to be more effective compared to ignoring a platform that is used by roughly 80-90 out of 330 million US citizens. And yes there are serious and ongoing debates about security concerns echoed by the FBI and the Senate Intelligence Committee: TikTok’s in trouble. Here is Devonté Hynes playing Time will Tell sitting at a white grand piano and even better: dancing.
🧮 The Affective Algorithms of Conspiracy TikTok
From time to time i post papers that pop up on my Google Scholar alarm ⏰. This time a paper went viral – by my standards. The headline ticked a lot of boxes: Algorithms, Conspiracy, Flows of mis(dis)information. Yay. Here are two take-aways from the paper:
👉 Algorithms: “In the most traditional definition, algorithms are a mathematical or logical term for a set of instructions (Introna & Wood, 2004)...algorithms must be understood as performing entities that evaluate and transform data (Parisi, 2013), in relation to social engagements of which they are a part (Dourish, 2016), and through the “folk theories” of how individuals perceive algorithms (YtreArne & Moe, 2020).”
I like the notion of algorithms being “multiple, embedded, unstable, and evolving with our own unique encounters” or as Ian Bogost has put it: Maybe consider that software services are not elegant “algorithms” carrying out clear goals but hot messes of tar and duct tape which barely work.
👉 Mis(dis)information: “For platforms like TikTok there is little incentive to shut down circulating mis(dis)information precisely because this content elicits a strong response, and, in turn, captures user attention, which ultimately leads to more engagement, data, and opportunities for monetization.” 👏 That basically sums it up, right?!
If you want to dive deeper into conspiracy theories may I – once again – recommend Abbie Richard’s Conspiracy Chart.
🏫 The TikTok Academy
TikTok is well recognized for its educational resources (Net Influencer). If you ask me, i am constantly confused by all of these. So there is a Business Learning Center, including elearning modules and short videos like Posting Your First TikTok (Let loose. Have fun.).
Then there was the Follow Me program - a “a multi-channel educational experience designed to help small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) leverage the power of TikTok to drive real world results” that ran as a 6-week from July 11 to August 19.
And now there is the TikTok Academy. It is “for anyone who wants to become a TikTok Pro”. Yet it’s focus is clear: How to best utilize TikTok for Business. The academy aims “to differentiate itself from other online courses and hopes to make learning more enjoyable. Each course will include interactive content, quizzes, and reward badges to make the lessons seem more like a game than a lecture” (Net Influencer).
If you want a shortcut in order to finally produce your very first TikTok you do not need a full-fledged academy. Here are 8 lines of text: Creating your first video. You can do it. It is 2005.
More
🕳️ If you – just like me – were wondering when TikTok is finally giving researchers access to its API, well something is happening. Here is: An update on our platform API for researchers (TikTok) and here is TechCrunch.
🕳️ TikTok quietly entered the United States e-commerce market (Semafor). Here are the new TikTok shopping features spotted in the wild (Twitter). Oh, and company documents suggest that creators selling products on the TikTok Shop are ranked for 'cooperation' and 'diligence' (Market Watch). Googling “Strategies to Survive Late Stage Capitalism” now.
🕳️ TikTok has published the 2022 edition of a so called discover list of “50 Creators Who Are Making a Global Impact” (Variety). Besides some well known faces, it is especially interesting to see how TikTok wants to be perceived: super diverse, young, beautiful, engaging and – pretty harmless. I’d love to see a qualitative comparison and closer examination of these creator lists over the years. Here is 2021 for a start.
🕳️ There is a german lawyer who is a super successful creator on the platform: Herr Anwalt (6M Followers 307.1M Likes). Besides having written a book, he has published a game now: Lawyers Legacy. His mostly young fans love it. And i am wondering how the whole TikTok is getting into gaming is actually doing?!
🕳️ Are you up for the surreal? I am. Thanks Drew Coffman for the thread. Take care.
Cover image taken from one of my favorite Berlin accounts by @diehuepsche. Let them be your personal TikTok Academy.