By: Nikki Minsky
How TikTok is being used to reach new audiences
The social media app TikTok acts not only as an outlet for personal expression but also as a new method for campaigning and raising awareness. TikTok provides a platform for young activists to have their voices heard on issues that they are passionate about, allowing them to advocate for change even without being able to vote. Creators are able to speak freely on topics and encourage their followers and viewers to take action. The format of these clips makes difficult content easier to digest for teens who are largely new to the political environment. The impact of this platform is already apparent. For example, TikTok mobilized voters and contributed to high youth voter turnout in the 2020 election. TikTok has emerged as a platform that will create a more progressive and politically aware generation, allowing for real systemic change to occur.
One example of this influence can be seen in United States Senator Ed Markey’s most recent primary campaign. In April of 2020, interns on the campaign team for Markey’s re-election created an account for the senator and posted a video using a popular dance song. It asked for people to create videos about why they support the senator and tag the account for the chance to have their videos reposted. Many young creators submitted videos in the format of popular trends at the time while still conveying what the policies were about. This form of campaigning motivated progressive first time voters to cast their ballots and stressed the importance of voting in the primary. Markey’s tech-savvy campaign led to the historic defeat of Representative Joe Kennedy in the Democratic primary—the first ever defeat of a Kennedy in a Massachusetts election.
The impact of TikTok was also demonstrated by the Senate win for Democrat candidates Jon Ossoff, Georgia’s first Jewish senator, and Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s first Black senator. Ossoff is the youngest sitting senator, and as part of his outreach for the senate run-off, he created a TikTok account where he posted informational videos set to popular trends, encouraging eligible viewers to vote. Young voters themselves also took to TikTok, posting videos of themselves in line for the polls to mobilize their peers to do the same.
In addition to being a space for social change, the app has also generated conversations about an array of issues that are often considered taboo such as mental health and the LGBTQ+ community. Tiktok has served as a place for young people in marginalized groups to find peers and content that they can relate to. Teens have been able to create and watch videos that may help them understand what they’re struggling with and help them feel as though they aren’t alone in what they’re facing. People are able to talk openly and share their stories about stigmatized topics and exchange coping strategies that help them. TikTok has brought an unpresented positive atmosphere to social media.
TikTok does have some downfalls. In particular, user privacy and national security are major issues for the popular social media platform. The Trump Administration attempted to ban the popular app in the summer of 2020, despite there being no evidence that it was any more of a threat than other social media platforms, causing a massive uproar from creators and consumers.
The app came under fire because it was said to be a national security threat due to its parent company ByteDance being based in Beijing, China. However, a recent study conducted by the University of Toronto found that there were no immediate concerns about the security of information on TikTok. They did note that the Chinese government may have “unconventional ways” of extracting the data from ByteDance using the national security laws, but clarified that that didn’t warrant any worry. The researchers also found that unlike Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok which is also provided by ByteDance, TikTok does not censor content about issues in mainland China.
People also noted the suspicious timing of this decision being released shortly after TikTok users artificially inflated the attendance for a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma by registering to get the free tickets with no plans to actually attend. The false inflation of attendance was a big embarrassment to the Trump campaign and also one of the first examples of TikTok having an impact on actual events.
Seeing the effect of what originally started as a small prank reinvigorated many creators. A team of over 200 TikTokers joined together to create an account called TikTok for Biden, which launched in October of 2020. The group has a wide range of people, including those who are too young to vote and even some who don’t live in the United States. Their first video outlines the goals of the account which were to support the campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and to register young people to vote and alert them about the election’s importance. Since President Biden’s 2020 victory, they have rebranded to become Gen Z for Change and now post videos about various current issues. The account has amassed over 1 million followers since its premiere and has garnered millions of views and likes.
TikTok cultivates a comfortable environment for young audiences to learn and share their own experiences, while spreading awareness about sensitive topics. Through its short attention-grabbing clips that are easy to watch and to learn from, TikTok provides an easy way to quickly spread information. Overall, TikTok is a powerful tool that will continue to be used to influence, educate, and inform.
Ossoff and Warnock’s victories can partly be attributed to TikTok