A Summary of TikTok and its Uses
TikTok is a social networking platform owned and operated by ByteDance. It has been in use since 2016; however, its use continues to grow. The platform’s communication strategies are anchored on website content, algorithms, and product marketing (Fan et al., 229). Equally important, it also involves user-generated content. As a result, it motivates users to create innovative content regularly. TikTok offers an avenue for users to express themselves freely. In addition, it permits users to show their creativity through entertaining videos. The platform is open for everyone. However, its ideal users are those who creatively like to entertain themselves or others. The platform is meant to provide brief and mood-captivating videos, making it easier for users to spend more time on the site watching short videos.
Platform’s Interface and main Product/Output
TikTok’s interface has a profile presented in a button’s circle. Thus, whenever users click the button, they are led to the respective users’ platforms where all the short videos are stored (Fan et al. 232). The platform also has a following button located on the creator’s channel, placed below the profile. Like other social networking sites, TikTok has a likes button for users to show their contentment with the posted content. Additionally, TikTok’s user interface has buttons for direct chat and comments. It also has contact; however, it is only available for premium users. The main product/output of TikTok is the ability of the platform to enable users to watch, create, and share short videos (229). The interface allows interaction among users, sharing content, and attracting others.
Avenues for crafting a Unique “Online Identity”
Identity encompasses who a person is and how others perceive an individual. Generally, identity includes roles, family relationships, and gender (Wiryawan 149). Social networking sites like TikTok allow users to show their visual self-portraits. Creators choose to present the self-concept they wish to show others. Hence, they craft distinct identities by selecting the version they want to present on the platform. Equally important, users are free to craft their own identity by choosing who to follow. As a result, users develop a unique online identity based on those they follow as their micro-celebrities, whom they follow their stories, lifestyles, and habits. Consequently, such users are likely to imitate what they see micro-celebrities do.
TikTok allows users to instantly create personalized video content when they click the create icon. As a result, users can edit and customize videos to suit their preferences and share the same with others (Yu 31). TikTok’s algorithm personalizes users’ content, allowing site users to view content they prefer, making them stay on the app for an extended duration. TikTok also allows users to personalize their profiles by adding profile information, a brief description of who they are, and their likes among others. Equally important, users can select a name resonating with their brand. It determines how other users identify and interact with them. Through TikTok avatars, creators can personalize their profiles by posting an animated version of themselves. The Avatars reflect a user’s personal look and style. In addition, the username creates a person’s identity and establishes a digital persona unique to a creator. The appearance contributes to personalization through aspects such as profile aesthetics and editing styles.
Furthermore, TikTok provides an avenue for users to create an online community. The widespread use of social networking sites like TikTok makes people view themselves as part of an enlarged social web (Fitzgerald 1). Shared experiences, interests, and voluntary engagements via social sites characterize an online community. People with a common interest can form an online community via TikTok. For example, during the coronavirus, the platform had a subgenre called #booktok that started when the lockdown forced people to seek virtual friends. It was comprised of readers, writers, and publishing firms. #booktok is an example of an online community since people with shared interests united to form a community to meet their reading, writing, or publication needs. Through the #booktok, users watch a video, identify with it, comment, and proceed to the next one. Consequently, such practices create a web, solidify their algorithmic connection to the #booktok community and lead them to the reader, strengthening their identity as an online community.
Positive and negative consequences of using TikTok for self-expression
TikTok is a video content-sharing platform that helps learners practice and improve their communication skills. Through TikTok, students can improve their reporting, storytelling, and writing skills (Maretha et al. 1). TikTok also helps learners broaden their knowledge by watching recorded videos. It has multiple English learning channels accessible through hashtags like #englishlearningtips or englishspeakingpractice. Some teachers select short videos and ask students to watch them. It has broadened access to learning resources.
One core drawback of TikTok is privacy issues. For instance, public account users are vulnerable to every audience type viewing their digital content. Hence, it may not be an ideal platform for teachers aiming to use their content for educational purposes (Maretha et al., 3). In addition, the videos posted on the platform are brief and not suitable for longer tasks like speeches or reports.
Online identity refers to individuals’ digital footprint based on the information they share and leave online. For example, every online platform or website a person visits has a unique identity of the site visitor based on what a person does on the platform. For instance, Amazon will establish a user’s online identity based on what they order from the e-commerce store (Internet Society 1). On the other hand, an individual’s IRL persona is based on how people present themselves to others and the traits that others see in them.
Online identity may lead to fake relationships since imposed identities are not true about a person. However, online interactions are mediated by such identities since users perceive others based on how they present themselves in the online spaces, which, in turn, impacts relationship building. One’s IRL persona gives a more authentic version of individuals; hence, it reduces personal privacy concerns unlike the online space like TikTok where privacy is not guaranteed, especially for public account users (Maretha et al., 3). Online identities also make individuals vulnerable to mental health through cyberbullying or the extreme push by individuals to live a fake lifestyle might cause anxiety.
IRL persona is somehow authentic since it entails how people present themselves to the world and, to a more significant extent, gives a true picture of who they are and influences how they interact with others on face-to-face interactions.
Offline identities imply aspects of an individual’s identity that are expressed, experienced, or acknowledged in the natural settings, outside the online spaces. The offline identities comprise roles, relationships, and a person’s tenets. Blurring of online and offline identities insinuate the challenge of distinguishing between how one present themselves in the online spaces and their actions in the real world.
In conclusion, social media use remains widespread in today’s society. TikTok, a video platform introduced in 2016 helps individuals share short video content. TikTok is advantageous as it broadens access to learning resources. On the contrary, the platform presents privacy concerns.
Work Cited
Fan, Xiaoci., et al. Understanding TikTok usage: Communication strategy for ByteDance based on the background of new media, 2023
Fitzgerald, Jessica. Identities and online communities: #booktok. Journal of Undergraduate Research vol.26, pp.1-5
Internet Society. Understanding your online identity: An overview of identity, n.d
Maretha, Annisa., et al. TikTok: Benefits, drawbacks, and implications for the ELT field, 2022. Mextesol Journal, vol.46, no.2, pp.1-4
Wiryawan, Yanuar. Self-identity formation of the public officials on entertainment apps, 2022. Journal of Communication Science Vol.10, no.2, pp.147-157
Yu, Jiang. Research on TikTok app based on user-centric theory, 2019. Applied Science and Innovative Research vol.3, no.1, pp.28-35