Essay: How do you describe TikTok?

The referral phrase that got my friend to download it: "it's a carnival"

This is an extremely well written and 100% accurate account of TikTok. As someone who thought they were past jumping on "what teens think is cool" I have to say that TikTok is a form of entertainment that I've never experienced before. I set timers on my phone before going down into "the TikTok mines" as my friend group has come to call it. It's highly addictive and very good at feeding you just the right content at the right mixture to keep you swiping up for "just one more video".

I had referred to it a worse Vine, just pre-teens/teen doing dances, not something I'd be interested, not meant for me but I was wrong. I downloaded it on a whim after having been shown countless hilarious and clever TikToks from other friends. Just as this article describes it starts off showing you fairly random content but it was able to hone in on at least a few things I like pretty quickly. Sure there are teens doing dances but I saw only a handful of those before TikTok got the hint and moved on to other things.

After using the platform for months now off and on I can say it still surprises me nearly every time I use it. Be it in introducing me to a topic I know little about, showing me a whole new section of content that I never thought to go looking for but highly enjoy, or just a very clever parody/sketch/etc.

Just about every topic you can think of there is a section of TikTok with videos about it. Here are just few that I've stumbled upon: Woodworking, tv/movie prop creation, cooking, cleaning, politics, every TV show/anime, BLM, LGBT, video games, tabletop games, comedy, dogs, cats, and so much. more. I've seen entire series (100's of videos) of a fictional character interacting with other characters in a show/anime/universe. I've seen how to cook X in Y way in accessible/easy formats. I've seen extremely clever D&D videos either using a popular audio to tell a D&D story or just using various D&D tropes role playing. I've seen videos of how to clean various household things from a house cleaner that does an amazing job. I've see 1 person play 4+ different characters (sometimes in costume, sometimes with just a label on the screen to designate) and it not only make complete sense but be some of the funniest comedy bits riffing off of popular trends on TikTo or riffing off current events that I've ever seen. The list goes on and on.

One thing I can say is is TikTok is fun and enjoyable in ways that no other social media network has ever been for me. In all things be careful but before dismissing it I would spend an hour or two and try the "For you page" (FYP) or try searching for some niche (or not so niche) topics you enjoy. Pick your most niche one though, I think you'll be surprised at the amount of content you find related to it. Just maybe don't link your social media or use any real data or give the app permissions.

EDIT: I did want to throw in one more thing about the various "topics" on TikTok. The ones I listed are ones I saw because I had interest in those topics. Your feed will look 98% different from mine, you can "train" the algorithm and if you don't like a topic or a creator you can block it fairly easily and never see content like that again. So just because you don't identify with anything I listed doesn't mean there isn't plenty of stuff that you will.

> I go there because it makes me happy.

Could not agree more, I have all my niche topics in an endless stream I can dip in and out of as I desire. The hit-rate on "things I like that it shows me" is incredibly high, higher than I would have believed possible without heavy tuning on my part. I did "nothing" but like the videos I enjoyed, swipe to the next video on videos I didn't like, and occasionally follow a creator if I've seen 3+ videos of their on my FYP that I like.

Give it 1-2 hours of your time and I bet you'll change your opinion at least slightly. Your friends are just sharing content that you don't find interesting but there is a "X TikTok" for just about every topic no matter how niche. Everyone's TikTok is very different, you can have overlap in topics with friends but you can also have a highly personalized feed of stuff you like.

Edit: I say of this because I thought VERY similarly to you before I tried it.