Be Like Speedy
This is to be filed under the category Eat Your Words.
This week I wrote about social media steering us away from our authentic selves. While my comment stands, yesterday at the excellent Mumbrella Asia conference I was persuaded to soften my view.
Call me a sucker for silliness, but I loved learning about TikTok. Previously, in my house, tiktok is the sound I make when I tell my kids to get off their phones. Tick tock tick tock - get off your phones! This morning I find myself logging in on Tiktok to see the inanity offered today.
It definitely sucks up time that should be spent, say, trying to save the world or at least folding laundry. But the messaging gurus at TikTok have been brilliant. TikTok is the Marx Brothers of social media, a Speedy Gonzales for turbulent times. Few of us can live up to the gloss of Instagram without Photoshop - oops I meant VSCO (just dated myself there). With TikTok, you can meet your potential for silliness (or stupidity) and still get likes. Let’s just say that’s a more inclusive and reassuring premise.
Did I say stupid? Yes. That’s not so good. Remember the old saying, “Don’t try this at home”? Well, TikTok encourages a more laissez faire attitude. I am all for the feel-good nature of the app and its exhortation to spread smiles. But just like rabble-rousing elicits higher engagement on Facebook, risky stunts also mean clickability. I can vouch for this as I regularly clean up TikTok-inspired house mess. Wiping off science experiments in the bathroom is one thing. Picking up your kid from the nurse’s office after another challenge-inspired injury is another.
But I get it. TikTok appeals to our underlying sense of fallibility. Imperfection is okay is a powerful message.
I know that there is potential for voyeuristic cretins on the site. That was always the risk of Musical.ly too, which was bought by TikTok. But to be fair, pervs roam the expanse of the internet and social media. Like cockroaches, they can proliferate in spite of best efforts to fumigate. I am not espousing apathy towards predators - just a reality check.
Speaking of reality check, I gotta get to my day job!
